


The sweetest lie

by subak_jumokbap



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Family Gatherings, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Roommates, Shenanigans, renjun is Pining, triple huang are cousins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28382856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/subak_jumokbap/pseuds/subak_jumokbap
Summary: Guanheng thinks it’s a great idea. Mark on the other hand thinks it’s bad, therefore it’s a bad idea. Unfortunately for Renjun, he doesn’t have much of a choice.“No, think about it,” Guanheng says convincingly, “this is a double win for him!”“I don’t think having his crush be his fake boyfriend is a win, Heng,” Mark frowns.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Park Jisung
Comments: 14
Kudos: 164
Collections: the rensung files





	The sweetest lie

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: RS064  
> Christmas is round the corner and A has no plus-ones to bring home for the family get-together and he’s really not excited for his nosy aunts and uncles to play matchmaker for him. luckily his roommate, B, isn’t heading anywhere for the holidays
> 
> for my prompter,  
> hello! i know you said i was free to change the celebration so i did! I kinda twisted my take of the prompt a little to fit my plot but do not worry because this fic is still very much fake/pretend dating. I hope this was able to satisfy what you were craving for! *crosses fingers* Happy reading!

Renjun hates his cousin, he really does.

He will die an early death at this rate and it will all be because of how much his beloved cousin gets on his nerves and no one will be surprised. Not even his cousin himself.

“You got me into this mess,” he grits clearly into his phone while he walks down the corridor with Mark cackling beside him. “So get me out of it!”

Guanheng’s voice rises and pierces through the line which makes Renjun wince and pull the phone away from his ear. Even from the distance, he can still hear Guanheng loud and clear, his adamance unmistaken in his tone. Mark shakes his head as he lets out another laugh, clearly entertained by his best friends’ banter. Renjun would find the argument entertaining too if he were not directly involved in it. Renjun gives Mark a tired look and Mark feeling pitiful, gestures for Renjun to hand the phone over. 

“Heng,” Mark speaks into the phone, a tone of rationality that manages to get Guanheng to audibly calm down. “Jun’s right, this is partly your fault. And he’s saved your ass plenty of times. Just help him get out of this.”

The calm doesn’t last because Guanheng makes a fuss again. Renjun groans, Guanheng’s unceasing shamelessness being the last straw to break any form of patience he has. He snatches the phone back from Mark’s hand and yells into it. “Huang Guanheng, I swear to god! You are so _infuriating_!” He goes off in a rant, his voice battling Guanheng’s for dominance. Mark walks alongside Renjun resignedly, wincing and letting out tired sighs at the insults hurled back and forth. Renjun’s so caught up in giving Guanheng a piece of his mind that he doesn’t realise he’s overshot his dorm room until Mark tugs him back by the top strap on his bag. He gets yanked back, albeit gently, and sees that he’s walked past his own door. He gives Mark a brief smile to thank him for it.

“It looks like Jisung just got back,” Mark murmurs when they see that Renjun’s door has been left ajar. Jisung must be planning on taking the trash out, he always does whenever he gets back from his Wednesday afternoon lessons. Renjun nods and only manages a distracted squeeze of Mark’s arm in place of a goodbye because he’s too busy dealing with Guanheng’s stubborn ass. Mark pats his back consolingly, sneaks a pop of his head pass the door after Renjun enters to shout a quick greeting to Jisung. 

At the sound of his name, Jisung looks up from where he’s putting a cereal box into a trash bag at the kitchenette. He leans forward to make himself visible through the gap of the door. He shouts back a greeting in return but Mark has already moved down the corridor to his own room.

“Hey hyung,” he greets Renjun instead when Renjun passes behind him. Renjun manages a small smile in response before a frown takes over his face. He makes his way to his bed and lets his bag fall at the foot of it with a thud loud enough to make Jisung flinch. 

“So you want me to continue lying to the family? Is that it?”

Jisung’s eyes turn wide and puzzled at the words uttered out of Renjun’s mouth. He cautiously turns to take in Renjun’s upset manner while Renjun continues talking on the phone. Renjun runs a hand through his hair in frustration, too immersed in his call to even sit down. Jisung reads the mood quickly and decides it’s not his place to meddle. He lifts the trash bag in his hand and weakly mutters out _trash_ just for the sake of announcing that he’s going out for a quick second. He knows Renjun’s too occupied to hear him and he’d rather not bring any attention to himself anyway so he turns quietly and leaves the room.

On the other side of the line, Guanheng is _still_ talking Renjun’s ear off. Renjun thinks his head will actually explode if he hears Guanheng’s voice for another minute so he tells Guanheng he hopes Guanheng chokes on water and fails all his midterms before he furiously ends the call. He drops himself face-front on his bed, his face mushed into his pillow and lets out a long groan. 

He’s been through shit because of Guanheng before but none of them were matters involving the family. He thinks this one might really take the cake.

The truth is, as much as he doesn’t want to admit, he’s partly to blame too. He didn’t know then how much the situation would have snowballed and if he did, he wouldn’t have played along with Guanheng’s little suggestion. It had seemed innocent enough at the time, a tiny white lie that would please everyone and get his nosy relatives off his back. 

It all happened four months ago on New Year’s eve, when both Xuxi and Yuqi had brought their girlfriends home. Both Renjun and Guanheng didn’t bring home a date but Guanheng had brought his boyfriend home a few days back for Christmas. This meant that Renjun was the only single one among his cousins his age, which inevitably also meant that his aunts and uncles were bound to hound him with questions about a significant other the entire night. He had prepared himself for it— sneakily evading them whenever they came close to him, busying himself with the kids or helping with whatever needed help in the kitchen. At one point during the celebration he had escaped to the backyard when most of his relatives were gathered in the living room. It was there that Guanheng had suggested it. Guanheng had taken one look at how exhausted he was, all slumped in the plastic chair next to him and had snickered like the devil he was. Renjun had glared at him and smacked him mercilessly for it.

Guanheng had scowled. “Just lie and tell them you’re seeing someone! Make up a story to get them off your back!”

Renjun had deadpanned as he leaned back against his chair, his back groaning from how he’d been crouching while playing with the kids earlier. “Heng, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s a foolproof plan! Look, they met Dejun on Christmas and no one’s bothered me at all today because they already know about him.”

Renjun would have ignored his ridiculous idea but barely a minute after Guanheng had suggested it, one of his aunts had come up to him out of nowhere and went on asking him when he was going to meet someone nice and bring them home. He tried not to make his grimace obvious as she went on and on, giving him advice about settling down. God, he was still in his early twenties, he didn’t have to think about marriage yet. 

He’d been hoping that he wouldn’t be under attack out in the backyard while everyone else was busy inside the house. He caught Guanheng side-eying him pointedly, hiding a smug smile behind his cup as he took a sip. 

“Look at all your cousins! They’re all attached and they’ll be happily married in no time,” his aunt said wistfully, which made Guanheng choke a little on his drink. “How nice will it be when you find someone too? I actually have someone I can introduce you to…”

Renjun didn’t really want to listen anymore. She continued without pause and Renjun had never wanted to flee so bad.

Xuxi and Yuqi were somewhere inside the house playing cards and Guanheng was out there right beside him just _chilling,_ not a single question thrown to him all night. For that moment, Renjun envied the peace that his cousins enjoyed and he could only crave for. He felt tired and so desperate so he took in a breath and said, “I actually have a boyfriend.”

His heart raced, thinking his aunt would see immediately through his lie but she beamed and scolded him for not telling her any sooner. Guanheng raised a brow at him, a proud smile tugging at his lips and the rest was, well, history.

The thing is, it worked. He spun a story and it passed from one person to the next all night. No one bothered him much nor tried to matchmake him at the next family gatherings. It was like a sweet dream come true. Questions did come up on when he was going to bring his boyfriend home but he managed to brush them off with excuses of his boyfriend being busy and promises of ‘next time’s. 

It was only when his mother had called him earlier today and told him to bring his boyfriend home for his grandmother’s birthday that he realised he was in serious trouble. He’d tried his luck far too many times now and it was either he brought someone home or be suspected of tricking them. Furthermore, _no one_ refuses his grandmother’s request, what more for her birthday celebration. 

Yet he had no one to bring home and if his family ever found out the truth, he might as well start planning his own funeral. So he had called Guanheng up frantically, and heatedly blamed Guanheng for getting him into this mess. Guanheng had retaliated that he did it out of his own will and well... here they are now. In an utter mess.

“Hyung? Is everything okay?”

Renjun hadn’t heard Jisung return from taking out the trash. He rolls onto his back with a loud sigh and drags himself to sit up against his headboard. Jisung sits cross-legged on his own bed at the opposite wall, staring curiously at Renjun. 

Renjun hugs a pillow and rests his head on top of it, turning just enough to meet Jisung’s gaze. “Just, Guanheng,” he sighs.

“What did he do this time?”

“Asked me to get a fake boyfriend.”

Jisung makes the most confused face which is a feat because he’s confused half of the time. He squints his eyes at Renjun and tries to make sense of Renjun’s words. Renjun saves him the trouble.

“Guanheng asked me to lie about having a boyfriend a few months ago to stop my relatives from setting me up with complete strangers and I did. And now I have to bring my supposed boyfriend home for my grandmother’s birthday or die by her hands when she sees me without a partner.”

Jisung’s face eases into that of understanding but he winces right after. “I thought you knew better than to listen to Guanheng hyung.” 

“I was in a moment of weakness,” Renjun confesses, ducking down to hide his face ashamedly into his pillow. Even Jisung knows not to trust Guanheng. Renjun internally scolds himself for being dumb for the hundredth time in the past hour.

“So saying the truth—”

“Out of the question,” Renjun mumbles into his pillow. 

“You could always tell them you broke up?”

Renjun lifts his head and leans it back against the headboard dramatically. “Can’t, I told my mom I’d bring him home. I was under pressure, you know how moms are.”

Jisung slumps and Renjun appreciates his empathy. He’s not about to make his own problem Jisung’s one as well so he gives Jisung a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Sungie. I’ll figure it out.” He shrugs a shoulder. “At most I’ll just be erased from the family register.”

It manages to make Jisung laugh and Renjun doesn’t have the heart to tell him that it is a very possible outcome if he in fact does _not_ manage to figure it out. 

Between telling his family the truth and finding a fake boyfriend to bring home, the latter seemed the most favourable. The problem is he has no idea who would be kind enough or stupid enough to be his fake boyfriend. He can only pay so much for someone to do it too. He would dump it on Guanheng to help him look for one but he’s never ever trusting Guanheng again. He could ask Mark to be the fake boyfriend since Mark is practically an angel compared to Guanheng, but Mark has that thing he volunteered for during their term break.

“Our one week term break? The one next week?” Jisung questions, baffled at how urgent the situation is.

“Yeah, so I’m in a really tight situation. I’m leaving Monday morning so I have up till this Sunday to find someone.” That’s four days away. In other words, he’s as good as dead. Renjun watches Jisung carefully and decides it’s not worth saving his pride when his life's on the line. He bites his lip and embarrassedly asks, “Do you maybe know anyone who might be up for something as stupid as this?”

Jisung looks surprised at the question, like he hadn’t expect Renjun to turn to him for help. It only makes the shame in Renjun’s chest burn greater. Jisung schools his features and fidgets on his bed. Renjun instantly regrets asking because he realises he had just made his problem Jisung’s own too. Before he can retract back his words, Jisung looks at him contemplatively and says, “You know hyung, I’m not going back home for term break.” 

Renjun knows, Jisung’s mentioned it before. Jisung swallows, seeming to have some difficulty with his words. “And you need someone to bring home. So,” Jisung drawls, looking at his bed sheet while he speaks. “I mean only if you want?”

Renjun processes Jisung’s words and his hesitant manner. He’s completely stumped when he runs Jisung’s words over and over again in his mind and comes to the exact same understanding.

“You can’t be serious?” He balks.

“I mean only if you’re okay with it,” Jisung rushes to say.

Jisung is offering himself and his free time up and he’s asking Renjun if he’s okay with it? Renjun is going to go crazy. _He’s_ the one who should be asking Jisung if he’s okay with it.

“Are you sure?” Renjun asks, still trying to process the fact that Jisung had even suggested the idea. He gives Jisung a wary look. “You’ll have to deal with my family.”

Jisung makes a face of realisation, like he hadn’t thought about it. Renjun worries a lot about him sometimes. 

“Are they all like Guanheng hyung?”

Renjun shakes his head. “He’s the worst.”

Jisung shrugs, gives a soft smile. “I’ll do it.”

Relief comes crashing down on Renjun like bountiful rain after a seemingly endless drought. “I’ll pay you,” he assures immediately, feeling more grateful at the fact that his life is spared than mournful that his bank account might be left with dust.

“What? No! You don’t have to pay me!”

Renjun can’t just use his roommate and not give him anything in return. Sure, he’s lying to his family but he still has morals he upholds.

“Sung, I can’t not give you anything in return for your help in something this big and stupid.”

“Fine, _fine,_ just— ummm,” Jisung drawls as he comes up with an alternative. His eyes roam around their room. His gaze goes to the laundry hamper and his eyes light up. “You can take on laundry duty for next month!”

Renjun stares flatly at him. He _really_ worries about how innocent Jisung is sometimes.

“That’s all?” He asks. After all, pretending to be someone’s boyfriend isn’t a simple favour to fulfil.

“Treat me to a meal?” Jisung suggests when he sees that Renjun expects him to demand for more. Renjun deadpans at him. “Fine. Okay, two meals? No? Okay uh,” Jisung thrusts three fingers in Renjun’s direction. “Three then!”

Renjun’s glad he’s taken Jisung under his wing because he’s definitely not going to allow Jisung to make deals with anyone else after this if this is how he bargains.

Renjun makes a mental note to take on laundry duty for _two_ months and treat Jisung to dinner for a whole _week_. He sighs, still feeling bad yet thankful that Jisung’s helping him out. “Deal,” he says at last.

Jisung beams brightly at him, like he had just done Jisung a favour instead of the other way around. “Cheer up, hyung! Who knows, it won’t turn out so bad. It might even turn out to be fun!”

Jisung’s the glass half full to counter Renjun’s glass half empty. Jisung’s optimism is what Renjun loves about him. Renjun lets out an incredulous laugh under his breath and sends Jisung a grateful smile. 

“You’re godsend, Jisungie. I owe you my life.”

Jisung scrunches his nose. “Just doing my laundry will do.”

Renjun scoffs, smiling a little easier now that Jisung has eased off a huge weight off his shoulders. He comes to the conclusion, like many other times before, that Park Jisung is the kindest person he’s ever met in his life. Ironically enough, Jisung helping him out might just put him in another kind of trouble.

They’re in an empty lecture theatre, the rest of the class and their professor having left only a few minutes ago. They have half an hour to spare before they have to move to their next lecture so they’re waiting it out in undisturbed, air-conditioned bliss. Guanheng sits alone in the row in front of Mark and Renjun, a result of having come late to class, and instead of moving to join them at the back row, he turns and sits backwards in his chair, his arms crossed over the top of it to face them. Mark is twirling his pen in one hand, his face resting in the palm of the other as he gives Renjun a concerned gaze. 

Guanheng thinks it’s a great idea. Mark on the other hand thinks it’s bad, therefore it’s a bad idea. Unfortunately for Renjun, he doesn’t have much of a choice.

“No, think about it,” Guanheng says convincingly, “this is a double win for him!”

“I don’t think having his crush be his fake boyfriend is a win, Heng,” Mark frowns, turning to give him an unimpressed look. “You’re just happy you don’t have to go out of your way to find him a fake boyfriend.”

“True,” Guanheng admits, “but this is his chance to turn his dreams into reality!”

Renjun leans back tiredly against his chair, hearing it creak under his weight. He levels Guanheng with a look, his arms crossed over his chest. “First of all, having my crush pretend to like me is the worst level of pathetic. Second of all, our family will just scare Jisung away and he’ll never want to date me, ever.”

Guanheng makes a face to show he thinks Renjun is being a tad dramatic but Renjun’s the one who's going to suffer so Renjun thinks he has every right to be dramatic.

“Does he know? That he’ll have to be there for a whole of three days and two nights?” Mark asks with a furrow of his brows.

Jisung does. Renjun had told Jisung they had to be there two days earlier to prep for the celebration, therefore making it a total of three days. He also mentioned there’s going to be at least three families there and he warned Jisung of how his relatives have a habit of prying. Jisung seemed a little affronted at first but he pressed his lips determinedly and told Renjun that he had promised to help and that he wouldn’t go back on his words. Renjun had been moved, and maybe a little more endeared than he already was, and he might have pinched Jisung’s cheek for it. So yes, Jisung knows what he’s getting himself into and he is still willing to go through with it. Bless his heart.

“I wish there was some other way for you to get out of this,” Mark says scrunching his face, slumping and digging his chin further into his palm. Renjun gives Mark a sad yet grateful smile and strokes down Mark’s bangs fondly. This is why he likes Mark better than Guanheng.

“I know,” he sighs. “But I don’t have the luxury of choice here. Jisung is my only saving grace. I’ll just have to bite my pride and endure three days of it. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Who knows,” Guanheng says, a playful twinkle in his eyes when he looks at Renjun. “Jisung might just fall in love with you for real.”

Renjun doesn’t know why he decided it was okay to let Guanheng join his friend group (even if it is just him and Mark). He’s never had a peaceful day with Guanheng around. He looks at Guanheng distastefully and shoves Guangheng’s shoulder. Guanheng cries as he loses his balance and almost falls off his chair but he manages to save himself. 

Shame, it would have made Renjun’s day.

Renjun’s never been up this early on campus before, not even for his lessons so if this doesn’t count as familial sacrifice then he doesn’t know what does. The only reason he’s awake before eight is because Guanheng and him had promised his mother that they’ll reach his place before lunch. Looking back, they should have thought of the three hour drive before they promised anything.

Jisung enters the back of the car without much noise, still groggy from sleep to fully register his own movements. Guanheng is notably much livelier than Renjun and Jisung are, so Renjun knows without a doubt that Guaheng had at least two cups of coffee before he came down. Renjun isn’t about to complain about Guanheng’s listless energy in comparison to the lack of his own because Guanheng’s driving them all the way to his place. He’s planning on getting some shut eye on the road to make himself feel better.

He hurls his bag into the back seat where Jisung sits slumped and dazed with sleep. He catches Guanheng’s bag from Guanheng and dumps it in the backseat as well. Jisung, a sleepy angel, helps arrange the bags neatly around him. Renjun ruffles his hair in thanks and Jisung smiles adorably from the silent praise. Renjun smiles fondly back at him before he shuts the door and slides in the passenger seat next to Guanheng, who’s already behind the wheel and buzzing with caffeine in his veins. Guanheng double checks if they’ve brought everything and after getting mumbled affirmations from Renjun and Jisung, he starts them driving. 

The journey is long to drive alone without swapping but Guanheng claims he can endure it all by himself so Renjun guiltlessly plans on taking a nap. He’s about to shut his eyes and drift away when his brain decides to remind him that he has _business_ to take care of. Fake boyfriend business. 

They haven’t really discussed how to execute this ridiculous yet very real plan. Renjun isn’t quite sure himself of how everything will play out but if he’s going to pull this off, Jisung and he will have to work together seamlessly to be able to trick everyone. For that to happen, he has tell Jisung all the lies he’s made up so far so that Jisung’s answers to any question will be consistent with the story he’s spun.

Renjun doesn’t think it’ll be that hard for Jisung to digest. He isn’t about to dig his own grave and tell Jisung this but he actually based part of his imaginary boyfriend off of Jisung. Jisung was the first person he could think of when he lied. In his defence, it was only natural and easier to dream up an imaginary lover based off his crush than to create a totally new person. Yes, it has come to bite him back in the ass. Yes, he regrets everything.

“Sung, are you asleep?” He speaks gently in case Jisung is. He turns his head back to check on him. Jisung’s eyes are still open but he looks pretty close to dozing off. Jisung rubs his eyes and shakes his head. “No,” he answers mid yawn which makes Renjun smile a little apologetically. He feels sorry to keep Jisung awake but he has to give Jisung a crash course on how to be his fake boyfriend otherwise they’re already doomed before they even start. 

“What’s up?” Jisung mumbles, sitting himself straighter.

“I just need to brief you on what I told my family about my, you know,” Renjun stalls, finding it hard to say _boyfriend_ with the image of Jisung in his mind. 

“Boyfriend,” Guanheng chirps.

“Yes,” Renjun remarks curtly, turning to give Guanheng a look with his lips pressed. His eyes flick up to the rearview mirror to look at Jisung. “Just so we don’t have our answers mixed up.” Renjun stares at Jisung and tries to gauge how he’s feeling. He hopes it isn’t too much of a load for him. “You ready? It’s not too late to back out. We can drop you off somewhere before we hit the highway.”

“No, I’m in. I’m ready,” Jisung assures, meeting Renjun’s eyes through the mirror.

Jisung’s determination and commitment ease some of Renjun’s tension. Jisung is the thread of sanity that keeps Renjun grounded in the insanity he’s whirling in. Renjun takes in a breath, as he would whenever he feels like he’s going through something bigger than he can handle. 

Renjun squeezes his own thigh. “Heng, remind me if I miss anything out.”

Guanheng mocks a salute. “Yes sir.”

“Okay,” Renjun starts, trying to find which point would be a good start to branch from. “I’ve told my family a fair bit about you. Or well, what you’re supposed to be. I told them that you, well again not _you_ you but my boyfriend—” 

“Which _is_ me,” Jisung provides innocently with a cute little smile that makes Renjun feel like the devil for roping Jisung into this.

“Yeah,” Renjun swallows weakly, feeling heat creep up his neck from a combination of shame and fluster. He forces himself to continue. “I told them that you study econs and that we first met when I was giving you directions to your lecture theatre. I gave you my number in case you got lost again but we mostly flirted instead.”

Jisung does study economics so that covers any doubts of Jisung not being able to answer any questions related to his course. They did not meet because Jisung was lost. No, they met as roommates but Jisung’s a little bad with directions so it’s a story they can definitely pull off. In fact Jisung’s lacking sense of direction is how he came up with the story.

“That’s cute,” Jisung laughs. “In an alternate reality it might have happened. I still confuse my right and left sometimes.”

In an alternate reality. Of course. Renjun gives a weak smile. Guanheng side eyes him briefly but Renjun ignores it. 

“I also told them that you have an older brother, which you actually do so that’s great. I like you because you’re nice to me. You like Chinese food, you took the first move and asked me out on a date and it was at the cinema. I asked you to be my boyfriend on our third date and we’ve been dating for four months now.”

“Four months, got it.”

“You good so far?”

Jisung nods. “Yeah. I think they’re easy enough to remember.”

“I told them that you’re shy, so you don’t have to try so hard to mingle around. My family can get a lot sometimes and if they do just tell me or Heng, okay?” Renjun turns to Guanheng. “Is there anything I’m missing?”

Guanheng knows all the lies he’s told. Guanheng was there beside him holding back snickers while he was lying through his teeth.

“Oh!” Guanheng exclaims. “Only the three of us should know about this. Xuxi— that’s my older brother— can’t keep a secret to himself so _never_ confide in him about it. Just basically keep up the act in front of everyone else and you’ll be fine.”

“Okay,” Jisung breathes out. “What do I have to do though? Do you want me to be very loud about it or like—”

“Have you ever been in a relationship, Sung?” Guanheng asks earnestly.

Jisung has. Jisung told Renjun once that he had a thing in high school. There was also that computer engineering guy last year that Renjun had to watch through. They broke up after a few months but it was amicable. What wasn’t amicable was being the pining roommate with a hopeless crush.

“He has,” Renjun mutters, turning to the window as he answers.

“Cool so you’ve been a boyfriend before,” Guanheng addresses Jisung. “It is exactly as simple as it sounds: pretend you’re Renjun’s boyfriend. Just make it natural enough that people would buy it.”

“You can do whatever is necessary,” Renjun mutters under his breath. “Just don’t go overboard.”

There’s a beat of silence before Jisung inhales audibly. “Okay. Yeah, okay I can do that.”

Jisung might, but Renjun doesn’t know if he can. This is possibly the worst thing he has ever put himself through and the most outrageous thing his conscience has ever had to deal with. It’s making his stomach squeamish.

“You’ll be fine,” Guanheng says with his eyes on the road but Renjun knows it’s directed more to him than it is to Jisung. Renjun just hopes he’s right.

Xuxi opens the door and welcomes them with a wide grin, ushering them in like he lives there even though it’s Renjun’s house. Xuxi raises his brows interestedly when he spots Jisung which only makes Jisung duck his head shyly. Renjun enters promptly behind Jisung, giving Xuxi a warning glare in case he tries anything funny and makes Jisung feel uncomfortable.

Renjun’s mother is home and she fusses over them noisily when they enter. She hugs Renjun and Guanheng warmly in the living room, her eyes sparkling excitedly when they land on Jisung. “Finally a decent young man in my home,” she jokes, which earns noises of protests from Xuxi and Guanheng. Her eyes flicker momentarily to Renjun after she subtly scans Jisung over and Renjun can tell that she’s already taken by Jisung’s mere appearance. He doesn’t expect any less. His mother has always had a soft spot for nice, mannerly looking boys. Jisung introduces himself, bowing politely and speaking clearly.

His mother coos. “Renjun’s told me so much about you!”

Renjun tries to hide his grimace with a forced smile. Everything his mother supposedly knows is what he’s created his fake boyfriend to be. The fact that half of the things were based off Jisung makes Renjun feel a little weird, like he’d really told his mother about Jisung instead of an imaginary someone and now she’s finally meeting him in person.

Jisung turns to him and gives him a soft smile, an understanding of sorts to soothe him, like Jisung can just tell he is internally dying of cringe and embarrassment. The smile works and Renjun finds himself relaxing instead of being so strung-up over the stupidest things. It makes him glad that it’s Jisung who’s doing this favour for him. He can’t imagine how it would go if it were anyone else. He trusts Jisung a lot and he knows Jisung would do his best to make everything go smoothly _for_ _him_.

“I hope he didn’t exaggerate about how nice I am,” Jisung laughs, smiling with his eyes. “I don’t want to disappoint.”

“Oh,” his mother waves off a hand. “I doubt it, dear.”

“I’m really glad that you’re finally here! I can’t wait to tell you all about Jun’s embarrassing childhood stories!” Xuxi exclaims. Renjun exchanges a brief glance with Guanheng and Guanheng nods at the silent message. Just like that, Guanheng is on duty to ensure that Xuxi doesn’t dig up too much that would expose their not so little lie. 

“Why don’t you settle down and put away your things and then we can all have lunch?” Renjun’s mother suggests, giving Renjun a pointed look to be a good host. Renjun gets the cue and motions Jisung to follow him up the stairs where the bedrooms are. Guanheng and Xuxi trail behind them.

Renjun stops in front of his room door while Guanheng and Xuxi move down the hallway to the room at the end. 

“I’m sharing your room?” Jisung voices with a tone of surprise.

Renjun turns to give Jisung a weird look, the corner of his lips curling up amusedly. “Of all the things you have to do, you’re questioning having to share a room with me? When you’re literally my roommate?”

Jisung rubs the back of his neck sheepishly and obligingly steps in when Renjun opens the door. He turns his head over his shoulder to talk to Renjun as he walks in. “It’s just— your parents don’t mind?”

Renjun shrugs. “They don’t have a choice anyway since we don’t have much rooms. Guanheng and Xuxi are taking the study room and Yuqi— that’s my other cousin, she’s coming tomorrow— is taking the guest room. So you’re stuck with me.”

Jisung nods, turning his head back around and finds himself standing on the off-white rug in the middle of Renjun’s room. He does a full sweep of the place, silent as he takes everything in. “So this is you.”

This is him. An extension of himself, his personality spilling over the floor and walls, intangible owning over the tangible. His bed sticks to the wall on the left and right by the side of the bed in front of his night stand is a futon mattress folded up neatly. His mother had probably placed it there for them before they arrived. His desk is placed in front of the window by the nightstand and his right-side wall is where his wardrobe and shelves stand. There are posters of anime and space movies on the empty spaces of his walls. Where there aren’t posters, there are his art pieces which he thought were cool when he drew them back in high school. The tape holding them up has gone yellow but it adds to the overall ambience of his room, an excuse he tells himself for leaving the tapes be instead of replacing them. 

There are little details here and there, like his doodle-littered skateboard resting against his wardrobe or his comic collection displayed proudly on his shelves. He has DVD's of his favourite alien movies and albums of his favourite singers on the shelf below his comic collection. He has plushies arranged neatly over his bed that doesn’t bring him any form of shame to be seen by Jisung because he has one back at the campus dorms, and Jisung’s slept with it plenty of times before. There are picture frames on his desk of his high school and college friends, a notable amount of art supplies and a keyboard that’s been tucked vertically by the shelves to make room for Jisung.

This is him defined by himself and it’s weird to have Jisung see it all. 

“I like it,” Jisung comments genuinely. He turns to look at Renjun, his gaze gentle. “It’s very you.”

“Thanks, I guess,” Renjun smiles. He gestures for Jisung to put his bag down anywhere. He sits on his bed, the familiar creak of it welcoming him home. Jisung takes a seat beside him. 

Jisung inhales consciously, his eyes unfocused when he looks around the room. He’s nervous, Renjun can tell. 

“Hey,” Renjun says, gripping Jisung’s thigh to grab his attention. “You okay?”

Jisung streams a breath out from his lips and smiles hesitantly at him. His voice comes out meek. “What if I mess this up?”

“You won’t. I know I’m depending on you but you can depend on me too. We’re a team.”

Jisung laughs weakly, grabbing Renjun’s hand on his thigh and lifting it up between them. He does a slow show of lacing their fingers together which catches Renjun off-guard. It sets his heart into a stuttering beat. Jisung looks at their hands as a small smile makes a way on his face. “We’re boyfriends.”

Heat pricks up the back of Renjun’s neck and he swallows dryly. He puts on a smile too, a deceiving calm to hide the fluster inside that Jisung has so innocently triggered. 

“You’re adapting fast,” he jokes weakly, intending for it to sound playful. Jisung bends his fingers over Renjun’s and Renjun watches curiously how small his hand is in Jisung’s own. It doesn’t look weird strangely enough, almost like two puzzle pieces coming together. 

A rap on the door startles them and Renjun whips his head back to find Xuxi’s head peering in, a raised brow and a knowing smile on his face while he looks at them. “Stop holding hands and come down for lunch.”

Renjun’s neck burns hotter and he mumbles for Xuxi to shut up. Xuxi cackles as he moves along the hallway. Renjun internally cringes and wishes to die of embarrassment but Jisung, ever the angel, laughs it off, his cheeks dusted a pretty pink. He lets go of their hands gently, his own hand falling back onto his thigh. Renjun gathers his hand back into his lap.

“Not a bad start,” Jisung breathes out, posing it like a question and waits to hear Renjun’s take.

Renjun curls his fingers into his own palm, Jisung’s heat lingering yet fading over his skin. “Not a bad start,” he repeats affirmatively. He gives Jisung a smile and cocks his head out the door. “Come on, food’s waiting.”

Lunch is a pleasant affair. A little too pleasant for Renjun’s liking because his mother practically adores Jisung so much to the point that Renjun feels she’s forgetting she has a son that has finally come home after months of being away. Renjun doesn’t blame Jisung at all, a proud swell in his chest seeing how Jisung has his mother and Xuxi enamoured. The way Jisung shyly talks about himself and gets flustered when he realises he’s been sharing a little too excitedly makes them all look at him nothing but fondly. He gives the most animatic reactions, cute eyes that bug out naively at lies he believes as truth, at jokes he detects a little too slow. He ends up blushing embarrassedly which Xuxi and even Guanheng coo at when he’s the last to understand a joke. Jisung manages to effortlessly put himself in Renjun’s mother’s good books when he endlessly compliments her cooking and leaves his plate spotless at the end. He does all of this with utmost sincerity, which is the only reason Renjun looks past the fact that nobody cared enough to make him feel welcomed home again as the only son of the house. That, and maybe he’s captured by Jisung’s charms as well. But then again, he always is.

Renjun does the dishes with Guanheng because Xuxi managed to sneak away quick enough, tugging Jisung along with him as his partner in evasion. Jisung manages to send Renjun an apologetic smile which Renjun waves off assuringly. Renjun’s mother gathers the dishes and dumps them in the sink where he and Guanheng stand side by side, donning similar expressions of despair as they watch the load grow bigger. 

“Make sure you don’t break any plates,” his mother warns. They groan together in response, shoulders jumping and quickly getting to work when she scolds them for dragging out the chore. 

“How old did you say Jisung was again?” She suddenly asks while she patters about the kitchen behind them.

“He’s two years younger.”

“That’s so young!”

“He’s twenty, Ma. He’s not a child.”

“Oh, you all are still children in my eyes. I really like him, Jun. He’s polite and he laughs a lot.”

Renjun clears his throat awkwardly. “That’s good. He was nervous about making a good first impression.”

She pats Renjun’s back. “He’s a nice boy. I can see why you like him.” She gives him a look. “You look at him a lot, you know.”

“Ma,” Renjun says, feeling the tip of his ears burning.

“I’m just saying,” she sings, obviously holding back a smile.

Guanheng smiles and whistles a happy tune next to Renjun when Renjun’s mother leaves. Renjun glares at him and elbows his side until he yelps and almost breaks a plate. 

The hours after lunch finds the four of them huddled in the living room playing Renjun’s switch. They don’t start preparing for the celebration until tomorrow when Yuqi arrives so they have the whole of today to chill. They do plenty of chilling until Renjun’s mother comes in and announces that she needs someone to run down to the grocery store to buy ingredients for tonight’s dinner and for the birthday celebration preparations.

“Not it!” Renjun yells first, followed by his cousins yelling in unison. Renjun grins smugly because it’s down to either Xuxi or Guanheng now for grocery duty. In a complete unpredictable twist of events, Jisung volunteers. Renjun’s laugh dies mid cackle.

“I’ll go,” Jisung offers, lifting himself off the couch to accompany Renjun’s mother into the kitchen. Renjun watches speechlessly as the both of them move further away from the living room while his two cousin snicker in the background. Renjun mourns the loss of his free time because if Jisung is going, it means by default he has to go too. 

Renjun groans, not at all sorry when he gets up and steps all over his cousins’ feet to trudge to his room to fetch his wallet. Once he has everything he needs, he drags himself to the kitchen where his mother is chatting happily with Jisung. She checks the refrigerator on what she’s running low on while telling Jisung about a funny incident that happened to her at the grocer’s. She starts giving Jisung grocery shopping advice that Renjun is pretty sure Jisung doesn’t need. Renjun slithers closer to them quietly, leans by the counter with his arms crossed while he waits for them to be done.

“That should be all,” his mother chirps, looking over the list Jisung had written in his phone on the spot. “I’ll call Jun if I need anything else.” She gives Renjun an unimpressed look and tuts. “Why can’t you be more like Jisung? He’s so helpful.”

Renjun rolls his eyes. “Thanks, Ma. Love you too.”

Jisung laughs. 

“Aww, buy him an ice-cream or something, Jisung. He’s upset.”

Renjun makes a show of being disgruntled. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he’s happy when we come back,” Jisung plays along, gingerly tugging Renjun’s elbow to get him moving. Renjun lifts himself off the counter with a sigh, side-eyeing his mother without malice as he leaves. Jisung’s hand slides down his back and stays as he leads them out. He smiles cheerfully, unaware how adorable it looks on him. “Come on, hyung. I’ve got everything down. We’ll even get you ice-cream too if you want.”

“Shut up,” Renjun mumbles. 

Jisung laughs and leans into Renjun’s side to appease him, reminiscent of a kitten cuddling for affection and the comparison in Renjun’s head makes him tumble into despair. “You’re not actually sulking, are you?” Jisung’s voice comes soft and fluttery. When Renjun glances at him, Jisung has the most innocent smile and it’s so powerful up close that it renders Renjun weak. His erratic heart wins against his control and he relents willingly into letting Jisung tug him gently by the wrist and out the front door. 

Guanheng, ever the devil, doesn’t miss the chance to cackle at them and shout for them to have fun as they leave.

Doing groceries with Jisung isn’t unfamiliar, they’ve shopped together plenty of times for Renjun to know which are Jisung’s favourite snacks and for Jisung to know which vegetables Renjun absolutely would not eat. They get everything in commendable time, along with a few extra snacks because they deserve it, and then they’re on the way back before they know it.

Once home, Renjun tells Jisung to dump everything in the kitchen and that Guanheng or Xuxi will take care of it. Jisung hesitates but Renjun tells him not to worry and urges him out of the kitchen, eventually steering him by the shoulders and forcing him out. 

He sighs once he dumps himself on the couch, Jisung joining beside him not a second later. Renjun’s been awake since too early in the morning and he hasn’t slept a wink since arriving home even though his plan was to snooze on his bed the moment he stepped foot inside. Guanheng and Xuxi had napped during the time Renjun and Jisung were out which Renjun knows because they had very annoyingly bragged about it. In exchange, they’re tasked with helping Renjun’s mother prepare dinner.

Renjun basks in the little time he has before dinner is done, choosing to watch a show on TV with Jisung in the meanwhile. He changes the channel to some anime he remembers watching when he was a kid and going by the noise of surprise Jisung makes, Jisung’s watched the show before too.

The show isn’t boring but it’s nowhere engaging enough for Renjun to keep his eyes open. He finds his head jerking down repetitively as he dozes in and out of sleep. He hears a soft chuckle from beside him and he opens his eyes blearily to see Jisung smiling at him.

“Here,” Jisung says quietly as he shifts closer and pats his own shoulder. “I’ll be your pillow.”

Renjun scoffs but the offer is there and he actually wants it so he scoots closer, leaning into Jisung and resting his head on Jisung’s shoulder. It’s way better than having nothing to lean on and it’s not completely foreign— Renjun’s dozed off on Jisung a handful of times before whenever they watch shows together. Yet it always makes Renjun feel a little shy whenever it happens, even now, and then a little stupid for feeling shy because it’s not supposed to mean _anything_. His heart thuds nervously, but the way Jisung appears calm and unaffected by the weight on his shoulder tells Renjun that the mess of nerves he feels is all inside him. He accepts the fluttering of his heart and that it might last a while and settles comfortably into Jisung’s body heat.

“How is it so far?” he murmurs quietly enough for only Jisung to pick up.

Jisung hums. “Your mom is very nice. Xuxi is a little overwhelming but he's very friendly. He’s like a really big puppy.”

“That’s Xuxi alright,” Renjun mumbles with a smile. He tries to keep his eyes open. “You’re not stressed or having regrets?”

Jisung hums again, his hand resting over Renjun’s thigh and patting it absentmindedly. The movement is slow and lulling. “No, in fact I feel strangely comfortable in your home.”

Renjun scoffs sleepily. “That’s because my mom adores you. Maybe more than she does me.”

“You’re just saying that.”

“I wish.”

Jisung laughs softly and drops his head on top of Renjun’s, turning his head such that his cheek is mushed against Renjun’s hair. Renjun finds himself snuggled warmly into the crook of Jisung’s neck. 

Renjun closes his eyes. “Are you sleepy too?”

“Yeah. I actually didn’t sleep last night. I was a little nervous.”

“You were?”

“But I’m okay now. I realised there’s no need to be nervous when you’re here with me.” Jisung adjusts his arm to curl around Renjun’s body to encourage Renjun to lean fully onto him. “You wanna sleep?”

“Yeah,” Renjun murmurs, feeling himself getting tucked into Jisung’s side.

Jisung laughs quietly. “Sleep,” Jisung mutters into his hair and he finds it too easy to drift off.

A little later he hears voices and he can’t tell if he’s dreaming or if it’s happening in reality. He hears Guanheng’s voice and Jisung saying something in return. He feels a warmth leaving his side but Jisung’s voice floats back into his mind and assures him that everything’s okay. A ruffle of his hair, a warm caress on his cheek. It feels nice and assuring enough that he finds himself drifting off even more deeply.

it feels like he’s been asleep for hours before he registers someone shaking his shoulder. He stirs, blinking his eyes as he adjusts to the light, processing that he’s at home and not in his dorm. Jisung stands in front of him and Jisung’s eyes light up when he finally manages to fully open both his eyes. 

“You’re awake!”

Renjun sits straighter and yawns. “How long was I out?”

“More than an hour,” Xuxi chirps from the kitchen by the side. Renjun glances at him. “Heng came out to ask for help with chopping the vegetables but you both were asleep. Luckily for us Jisung’s a light sleeper otherwise dinner won’t be ready till another hour later.”

Jisung shrugs simply in response when Renjun looks to him for confirmation. He offers a smile, holding a hand out and cocking his head towards the dining table. “Come on, I’ve been sent to wake my boyfriend up for dinner. Your dad’s home and everyone else is waiting.”

Renjun freezes instinctively at the word _boyfriend_ but recovers right after when he remembers that Xuxi is still watching them. He feels his face heat up in embarrassment for almost exposing himself but Xuxi misreads the blush on his face. Xuxi gives him a roll of his eyes and mutters, “Just hurry up,” before he disappears into the kitchen. 

Jisung winces and mouths a ‘sorry’ for unintentionally catching Renjun by surprise. Renjun collects himself quickly and tells Jisung that it’s fine. And since Jisung’s palm is still held out, Renjun takes it and squeezes it as a gesture of assurance. Jisung smiles a quiet, relieved one and Renjun lets Jisung pull him up to join everyone else. 

Unsurprisingly, Jisung manages to charm his father too. They bond quickly over horror stories of majoring in economics because his dad majored in the same thing as well. He tells Jisung later, when it’s late and everyone's washed up and retreated to their respective rooms, that his family really likes him and that he’s not making this up to make Jisung feel at ease.

“You sound jealous,” Jisung jokes. He’s sitting on Renjun’s bed, scrolling through his phone while it’s charged near the nightstand. Renjun towels his hair dry and throws the towel into the hamper by his door.

“I am _very_ jealous,” Renjun pronounces exaggeratedly. “You’re even getting my bed. I have to sleep on the floor.”

Jisung startles at that, immediately standing up and away from the bed like he’d done something unforgivable. “I’m sorry. I didn’t–”

“I’m _teasing,”_ Renjun laughs, stroking a hand briefly down Jisung’s cheek to reassure him. He starts kicking at the foldable mattress and turns his head back towards Jisung. “But you’re still getting the bed though. Don’t fight me on this.”

Jisung pouts, his shoulders slumping. “No, I can’t do that. I’ll feel bad.”

Renjun shakes his head adamantly, unfolding the mattress and laying it out by the bed. “My house, my rules.”

“ _Hyung_.”

“Get to bed, Sung.”

Jisung sighs, knowing that he can’t win Renjun once Renjun’s made up his mind. He climbs onto the bed obediently and sits hugging a pillow beneath his chin. He watches Renjun prepare his own pillows and blanket and once Renjun’s done setting up his bed for the night, Renjun walks over to the light switch. 

“Ready?”

Jisung nods his head. Renjun switches the lights off and the room gets consumed in darkness. Renjun’s eyes adjust quickly and he sees Jisung settling under the blanket which he hides a smile at because Jisung always listens to him well. He makes his way to the mattress and makes himself comfortable. He hears Jisung still rustling about once he’s settled in and the next thing he knows, Jisung’s head is peering down at him.

“Geez, Sung give a guy some warning,” he wheezes, clutching a hand to his chest. Jisung chuckles bashfully and mutters out an apology. Renjun waves it off, asks him what’s the matter.

“We’ll be staying here for two nights, right? Why don’t I take the bed the first night, and you take it the second?”

Renjun can see that Jisung still feels uncomfortable about taking the bed despite him being fine with it. He knows that they can both be stubborn and might end up arguing so he concedes without more persuasion and tells Jisung they’ll switch places tomorrow night. That manages to ease Jisung’s expression and Renjun can’t resist from reaching up and pinching his cheeks softly even though Jisung scrunches his face and tries to swat his hand away. He tells Jisung to sleep knowing how much work Jisung did today. Jisung hums and turns to lie flat on his back.

“This feels weird,” Jisung says out to the ceiling after a stretch of silence. Renjun snorts, because he thought Jisung had been trying to fall asleep but it looks like they’re both having trouble. He turns to face the bed and the sound of it prompts Jisung to turn and look down to meet him.

“Why? It’s not like we don’t already share a room.”

“I don’t know. It’s just new. Sleeping in a space that’s completely yours.” Jisung shrugs. “It feels like I’m invading your world.”

“It’s not invading when I don’t mind you here. I _need_ you here, really.”

“Here in your room?” Jisung jokes, his voice scratchier than it was earlier. It always gets scratchy when he’s close to falling asleep.

Renjun laughs. “Yeah, exactly. Here in my room.” He pulls his blanket up. “So, how would you rate today?” he asks Jisung curiously, tilting his head at the right angle on his pillow to take Jisung in. Jisung takes his time to think about it, bringing his blanket up to his chin and snuggling into it.

Jisung wrinkles his nose. “I’d give it an eight out of ten.”

That’s higher than Renjun thought he would give. 

“Well I knew Guanheng hyung beforehand,” Jisung explains, which makes sense because if he’d met Guanheng for the first time today, he’d probably give a score lower than five. “And being your boyfriend seems fairly easy? For now at least? No one’s questioning our fake relationship so far. I would give a higher score but tomorrow might turn out better.”

Jisung being an optimist like how he always is makes a laugh bubble out of Renjun’s chest. He can see Jisung smiling at the sound of his laugh. “It’s not hard then, doing this?”

“No. I think we’re gonna nail this, hyung.”

“I think so too. Thanks for doing this, Sungie. It really means a lot. More than you think.”

Jisung shrugs his shoulders, like he’s merely doing Renjun a simple favour and not actually saving Renjun from being disowned by the family. “I’m glad to help.”

“If you ever need a fake boyfriend, Sung, let me know.”

Jisung laughs scratchily. “Alright. You should go to sleep, hyung. Tomorrow’s gonna be a long day.”

Renjun tells him to get some rest as well. As if ensuring that doesn’t happen, Jisung’s phone lights up just as the words leave Renjun’s mouth. Jisung stretches to grab it from the nightstand, his face getting illuminated by the bright light of his screen. He squints at it and types something out on his phone.

“Just Chenle,” he explains, even if Renjun doesn’t ask. “He wants to know how the first day went.”

Renjun nestles against his pillow. “Tell him I’m taking care of his best friend and that he has nothing to worry about. Mention I gave you the bed tonight.”

Jisung chuckles. “I will.”

“Goodnight, Jisungie. Don’t text for too long. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jisung assures him he’ll sleep soon and wishes him goodnight. The last thing Renjun sees before he closes his eyes is Jisung’s face shone on by his phone and Jisung snuggled warmly on his childhood bed. It’s not something Renjun thought he would ever come to see but actually seeing it makes him feel a little weird inside, but a good kind of weird. Like ‘seeing his favourite person in a space he’s grown up in’ kind of weird. But he likes it. He thinks this memory will stay with him like a stain on a shirt, like a lingering first kiss, like the smell of the sea on his clothes when he comes home from the beach, even after the whole fake dating ends and things go back to how they were. This is a memory he’ll keep for himself. 

Yuqi arrives the next day after brunch. Her arrival is a loud event. Xuxi welcomes her loudly with a yell at the door and a hug that makes her scream half pleased, half terrified as she demands for Xuxi to put her down. Jisung laughs from where he’s lounging with the others in the living room, nestled snugly beside Renjun on the couch with his knees drawn to his chest. He clearly finds Renjun’s family very interesting to observe. Renjun smiles watching his reaction. 

Guanheng sends Jisung out to retrieve Yuqi from Xuxi’s clutches which Jisung willingly goes, looking excited and intrigued to meet Yuqi who he’s only heard about the past days. Renjun decides to tail along, not feeling too good about leaving Jisung alone with Xuxi and Yuqi. They’re a pair to behold, bickering half of the time but when they’re on the same side, they’re a force not to be played with. Incredibly noisy and terrifyingly annoying, they are best avoided once they stick together like gum. 

“Oh?” Yuqi says once her feet are on the ground, straightening the creases on her dress. Xuxi leaves to bring her bag into the house and she eyes Jisung with a sparkle in them. She offers him a sweet smile that seems too good to be true. “Is this who I think it is?”

“Don’t scare him,” Renjun warns before she can say anything else, coming up from behind Jisung. He wraps an arm around Jisung’s shoulder and squeezes Jisung closer to him protectively. Jisung naturally curls his fingers around Renjun’s wrist where it hangs off his shoulder, making it look like it’s something they do all the time. Renjun feels oddly proud by how Jisung accepts his gesture.

Jisung gives Yuqi a warm smile in return to welcome her. 

“Why would I do anything to scare him, Jun?”

“You tell me.”

Renjun sticks himself even closer to Jisung, half of his shoulder hidden behind Jisung’s back. It’s mostly to make a statement, to show that if Yuqi does anything to terrify Jisung, she _will_ deal with the consequences directly from him. If their childhood had taught the both of them anything, it was that fights between him and Yuqi were the messiest. They love each other, of course, that goes without saying.

“You’re giving him a bad impression of me, Jun,” Yuqi chides, but her tone is light-hearted. She raises a brow, looking at Jisung like he’s something exciting to unravel. “He’s real then? I didn’t dream up Xuxi telling me you brought a boyfriend home?”

“I’m real,” Jisung laughs, speaking in Renjun’s stead. “I’m Jisung. It’s nice to meet you. I really love your dress.”

“Oh, he comes with praises,” Yuqi coos. “Thank you, Jisung. I’m Yuqi, the cousin who ensures Jun’s life doesn’t go too smoothly.” She gives Jisung a wink. “I have a feeling we’ll get along just fine.” 

“That’s good to hear,” Jisung laughs.

“It’s really not,” Renjun sighs. 

Yuqi eyes how Renjun’s still holding Jisung protectively and flicks her eyes to him. She smiles amusedly. “No need to hold on so tight there, Jun. I’m not going to steal him away.”

Renjun narrows his eyes at her. “I’m preventing you from trying anything funny. You might just take him away and make him your slave.”

“That special treatment only caters to you.” Yuqi blows him a kiss before she leads herself into the house. With Yuqi out of their sights, Jisung lets out a little laugh at Yuqi’s quirkiness. He stretches around his back to remove Renjun’s arm from him and he places Renjun’s hand flat over his own. He looks down at it and glances at Renjun with a twinkle in his eyes. “Really, hyung?”

“I’m trying to protect you from her. And it sells our lie anyway,” Renjun mutters. Jisung calls him cute in the gentlest voice that hits him hard like a downpour. Before he can seek a shelter in his mind to keep himself safe, Jisung clasps their hands together and pulls him eagerly into the house. Renjun is metaphorically soaked through in the downpour Jisung brings and he finds that it’s not bad getting drenched in this. Having all of Jisung’s attention on him. He also really likes how their hands fit easily together. He makes it a point to blatantly ignore the way Guanheng’s eyes light up when they pass by him to see the commotion Xuxi and Yuqi are making in Yuqi’s room.

Now with Yuqi here, birthday preparations are underway without further delay. Jobs are split and delegated out between them through a game of rock, paper, scissors. Yuqi and Xuxi get dumpling duty with Renjun’s mother in the kitchen, Jisung with Renjun’s father in setting up the living room which leaves Guanheng and Renjun with decorations. 

Renjun and Guanheng are on Renjun’s bedroom floor, splayed on their fronts as they mindlessly paint the letters they’ve drawn on a large banner which they’ve laid out in front of them. Guanheng starts from the opposite end and they’re unusually quiet when they work, easily lost in the brushstrokes and the music flowing out from Renjun’s speakers.

“Let’s call Mark!” Guanheng announces abruptly in the middle of painting his letter. He fumbles around his body in search of his phone and manages to locate it beneath his stomach. “I’m gonna call Mark, turn the music down.”

Renjun huffs at being ordered in his own room but he obliges. Guanheng places his phone on a clean, dry spot on the banner between them, the speaker turned on such that the ringing drowns over the soft music playing the the background. It rings for a few beats more until,

“Hello?”

“Mark!”

“Heng,” Mark laughs. “Why are you so happy to talk to me?”

“My only company is Jun at the moment,” Guan Heng remarks with displeasure. 

“Ah, that explains it,” Mark replies which should offend Renjun but he’s too unbothered to care. “Is Jun there?”

“Hey, loser,” Renjun speaks up as he colours in his fourth letter on the banner. “Did we catch you at a bad time?”

“No, I just got on break. What are you guys doing?”

“Decorations,” Guanheng answers. “You should see how well I’m colouring this. I’m killing it. Grandma’s gonna cry when she sees this.”

“Yes because you colour a little better than a five year old,” Renjun remarks dryly.

“Impressive Heng, keep it up,” Mark laughs. “And Jisung? Is he there? How are things coming along?”

“He’s out in the living room right now but oh Mark, they’re quite the actors,” Guanheng says with a tone that’s intent on making Mark curious. “They’re selling it hot. Couple of the year.”

“I’m missing all the action, aren’t I? I’m glad it’s working out fine though,” Mark voices but there’s something about his tone that tells Renjun he’s holding back some words. 

Somewhere outside Xuxi shouts for one of them to come out and help Jisung and Renjun’s father rearrange the furniture. Renjun eyes Guanheng pointedly, his way of telling Guanheng that Guanheng should be the one to go. Besides, between the two of them Guanheng is the bigger one and Renjun is the artistic one. It makes more sense. 

Guanheng gets up with a huff and tells Mark not to hang up before he comes back. When Guanheng’s gone, Renjun brings the phone nearer to himself and starts on the next letter on the banner.

“Spit it out,” he speaks. “I know there’s something bothering you about my situation here.”

“Am I that obvious?” Mark questions with a resigned laugh.

“No, I just know you too well.”

“Look, I don’t mean to dampen the mood by bringing this up. I mean it’s great that they’re buying your act and you’re not forced to be estranged from the family! But on the flip side, it also means you’re acting it out real enough.”

“It has to seem real.”

There’s a pause on Mark’s end. “Is it hard?”

“What? Acting like my crush is in love with me?”

“Jun,” Mark says gently.

Renjun stops his brush mid-stroke and stares blankly at the half painted letter. His mind is quick to drift to a smile he’s easily helpless over. “He’s amazing, Mark,” he sighs. “He’s so caring and kind and everyone loves him. He does it so well it makes me feel all warm inside and then I have to remember it’s all fake no matter how sincerely he does it.”

Mark’s voice comes out sorry. “I can’t imagine what that must be like.”

“Well, I don’t have to and it sucks. But I just take what I can get, you know? He’s been really good. Like, really, _really_ good.”

“Yeah?”

“He’s so adorable it pains me.”

Mark snorts out a laugh. “He’s not giving you such a hard time then?” Mark teases and Renjun imagines a fond smile on Mark’s face.

“He could never.”

“What are you going to do when this is all over? You know asking him to be your fake boyfriend isn’t a substantial solution. Something’s got to give and it won’t end pretty.”

“I know. I’ll figure something out. I have to anyway,” Renjun says with a sigh. “Without Heng’s help this time. I was a fool to listen to him.”

“Heng’s trying his best to make it up to you, I hope you know that.”

“I know.”

“Just take care of yourself, alright?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t do any more things to cause me to worry then. Listen, I have to go. Can you tell Heng I’m sorry and I’ll call him when I’m on my next break.”

“Nah, I’ll just let him cry and tell him you don’t like him.”

Mark laughs. “Whatever you fancy. Good luck, Jun. You know you can call me anytime you need me.”

“Of course.”

The call ends and Renjun sighs. He resumes painting the banner but his heart isn’t in it as much as it was before. Mark’s right, this isn’t a solution that will solve all his future problems and while Jisung has been sweet and helpful, he can’t ask Jisung to do this forever. It also hurts a little every time Jisung smiles at him and holds his hand because he gets to taste what Jisung as a boyfriend is like and he breaks a little inside every time he has to remind himself it’s not real. It’s not for him, it’s for everyone else to believe that it is. 

As long as everyone believes they’re boyfriends, it should be good enough.

By the time evening falls, everything is in order. The living room has been reorganised to house more people, there are mountains of dumplings in the refrigerator along with other dishes Xuxi and Yuqi had helped prepare and Renjun’s and Guanheng’s decorations liven up the place greatly. Their banner hangs proudly on the living room wall such that it’s the first thing to see from the front door. Renjun knows his grandmother will make a fuss over the length they’ve gone to but he also knows she’ll be extremely touched. The fact remains that she secretly loves being made the center of attention and her birthday will be nothing short of that.

Dinner isn’t until two hours later so when Renjun’s father announces they have yet to collect the birthday cake, Renjun offers to pick it up with Jisung. 

“Go with Heng, Jisung’s done so much today. Don’t bully him,” Yuqi voices where she’s slumped tiredly against the couch. Guanheng is sitting between her knees and he slaps her legs for it. She nudges her elbow on the crown of his head in retaliation.

“Please don’t make me spend more time with Heng,” Renjun laments loudly from the kitchen.

“But Jisung helped everyone! He finished helping in the living room and then came to the kitchen to help,” Xuxi speaks up. “Meanwhile you and Heng spent hours doodling.”

Guanheng lets out an offended scoff. “ _Doodling_? I can’t believe you’re feeding into a society that disrespects the arts!”

“I’m not disrespecting the arts, I’m disrespecting you.”

“So it’s okay to bully me and not Sung?” Guanheng voices in disbelief.

“I can go with Renjun hyung, I really don’t mind,” Jisung speaks up in a laugh to put an end to the bickering. He’s sitting squeezed next to Xuxi on the other side of the couch where Xuxi is using him as a human pillow. 

“See, he wants to go! You two have to stop being so dense. Can’t you tell Renjun wants to have some alone time with his boyfriend?” 

At Guanheng’s statement, Xuxi and Yuqi turn to look at each other and then back at Renjun who’s timely strolling out of the kitchen with a cookie in hand. He sees all of them looking at him and frowns when he sees how Xuxi literally has Jisung all squished up at the corner of the couch.

“Xuxi, please let my boyfriend go,” he says with a sigh. “You’re gonna crush him before Nǎi nai even gets to see him.”

Jisung meets his eyes briefly and there’s the slightest twinkle of delight that’s tinkled in with surprise. Renjun too is amazed at how easily the word ‘ _boyfriend’_ had slipped out of his mouth but he tries to send Jisung a subtle reprimanding glare so Jisung doesn’t get too cheeky.

Xuxi grumbles and scoots away. Renjun takes a bite of half his cookie as he makes his way over to the trio. Yuqi pouts at him when he gets close which makes him sigh before giving her the rest of it. She beams in delight which makes Jisung laugh which needless to say makes him smile. He stands behind Jisung, squeezes Jisung’s shoulders and massages them. “Are you tired?” He asks quietly. “You don’t have to come along if you don’t want to.”

“No, I’m okay. I want to go with you,” Jisung assures. He relaxes as Renjun kneads his shoulders for a while more. Jisung eventually pats Renjun’s hands on his shoulder as thanks before he promptly gets up. Xuxi despairs at the lost of a cuddle buddy and slumps over to the other side to lean against Yuqi instead. 

Jisung is just about to make his way to Renjun’s room to grab his things when he pauses and turns back thoughtfully. “I think it’ll be chilly out. I’ll grab your cardigan for you?”

Renjun blinks. Jisung looks at him expectantly and he belatedly nods, albeit dazed, at Jisung’s unexpected kind consideration. Jisung disappears up the stairs and Yuqi throws her head back at him to give him a look. Her eyes shine as she looks at him and it makes Renjun feel weird. His stomach squirms.

“He’s so good to you, Jun,” she says in awe. 

Renjun shakes his head. He takes over the empty space on the couch left by Jisung. “He’s a nice kid,” he reasons.

Xuxi lays his head on Yuqi’s shoulder while he glances at Renjun beside him. “Yeah, but don’t pretend he doesn’t literally look at you with hearts in his eyes. He likes you so much, dude.”

Yuqi reaches over Xuxi’s lap to squeeze Renjun’s thigh. It’s supposed to be warm, encouraging, but Renjun just feels affronted. “You like him a lot too, don’t you? God, the amount of adoration you both have for each other is _ridiculous_.”

Renjun doesn’t know what to say. Does Jisung really look at him a certain way? Or had Jisung actually been acting without him realising? Because Yuqi and Xuxi were there?

“They’re just going to go get cake,” Guanheng intervenes when Renjun stays quiet a little too long. “Stop acting like they’re getting married tomorrow.”

Renjun’s stomach twists. He hears his own heartbeat loud in his ears and everything feels muted, like he’s being pressed underwater and he can’t come up. Guanheng takes a glance at him, his gaze bearing weight. Renjun feels _seen_ and so... incredibly stupid. Stupid, for having a crush that he can’t seem to ever get over and stupid for having his crush pretend to be his boyfriend. He feels like the world’s fool.

“Hyung, here,” Jisung reappears in the living room again with Renjun’s cardigan draped over his arm. He lifts it up to show Renjun. “Are you ready?” He asks, watching Renjun’s face. His expression changes seeing Renjun’s and he slowly scans over everyone else’s. 

Yuqi does a bad job of pretending they weren’t doing anything significant which renders Jisung quiet. Before the atmosphere takes a stifling turn, Renjun forces himself to take control of the situation. 

“Thank you, Sungie. Come on, let’s go,” he mumbles, tugging Jisung’s sweater sleeve that’s swallowing his fist to lead them out of the door. He leaves Guanheng to deal with the strange apprehension that’s starting to cloud the room.

Once they’re out, Jisung quietly passes Renjun his cardigan which Renjun murmurs his thanks for as he puts it on. He wraps it tight around his body and hugs his torso as they walk, thinking distractedly about Yuqi’s and Xuxi’s words. He doesn’t realise he’s so in his head, walking heatedly with a frown on his lips and his brows knitted together until Jisung points it out.

Jisung grabs his elbow gently and slows him down. Renjun sees the look of concern on Jisung’s face and he fizzles out of his own head, feeling guilty for the way he’s acting. His face eases and he follows Jisung’s pace as they walk.

“Did something happen when I went upstairs? Are you angry at something?”

“No,” Renjun sighs. He kicks the dirt absentmindedly. “I’m not. It’s nothing.”

“You’re a bad liar, hyung.”

“You’re right,” he ducks his head, laughing weakly. “I’m sorry. They just said some things that had the gears turning in my head.”

“Is it something you can’t talk to me about?”

Renjun looks at Jisung and presses his lips together. Guilt churns in his stomach for worrying him uselessly. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not important. I’m just being a little... dramatic. This cake trip was supposed to be a break for you from all the pretending.” Renjun gives him a wry smile. “It’s why I brought you out. I thought it would be nice to give you time to breathe and be yourself.” 

He doesn’t want Jisung to feel suffocated in the house by constantly pretending to be someone he’s made up. He’s not merciless, he has a (half workable) conscience and he wants Jisung to be as comfortable as he can despite the stupid situation he’s gotten them in. He feels responsible for Jisung and he had promised himself he’d take care of him.

“Hyung, you’re making it sound like I hate doing this,” Jisung laughs, giving Renjun a weird look. “I volunteered for this, remember? Besides, it’s not that hard when your family has been nothing but nice to me.”

“Well that’s because you make it easy. To be nice to you.” Renjun keeps his hands warm in the pockets of his cardigan, twisting his body slightly to give Jisung a playful smile. “I don’t know how much more they’re going to fuss all over you, so enjoy this sweet little escapade while you can.”

“My hero.”

Renjun plays along. “Like you are mine.”

Jisung smiles cutely. “But I really don’t mind, you know that right, hyung? Being here with you. I don’t mind it at all.”

Jisung is _perfect_. He’s so perfect and Renjun is so helplessly endeared. “You’re a literal saint, Sung, do you know that?” He shakes his head and blows out an exhale. “I’m going to hell for abusing you. Next time anyone asks you for a favour, run them by me first. I’ll filter through them for you, make sure no one treats you like this.”

Jisung laughs out loud, his eyes crinkling. “You’re so cute.”

“I’m your _hyung,”_ he reminds Jisung but he nudges Jisung’s shoulder amiably. “Besides, we’re out of the house. You can save all that for later.”

“This isn’t for an audience,” Jisung comments, glancing at Renjun with a small smile. He shrugs nonchalantly. “You’re always cute, hyung.”

Renjun looks away, hoping his ears don’t bloom a betraying shade of red. 

They collect the cake and take the longer path home just so they can avoid spending time with Renjun’s devil cousins. They deliver the cake home safely and arrive just in time for dinner. After the meal, while everyone goes to wash up and idle in their own rooms, Guanheng sneaks into Renjun’s and forcefully shoves his way onto Renjun’s bed, making Renjun groan at how cramped it is with both of them lying on it.

“Where’s Sung?”

“In the shower,” Renjun grumbles, elbowing Guanheng’s side. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Guanheng pushes Renjun back which elicits another shove from Renjun. This goes on back and forth until Renjun’s lost for breath and Guanheng’s head is bulldozed into Renjun’s arm. Renjun gives up from exhaustion and lets Guanheng be. 

“You’re my favourite cousin, you know that, right?” Guanheng mumbles, his voice muffled against Renjun and the mattress.

“No one wants to be your favourite cousin, Heng.”

“I’m sorry.”

Renjun stills at the rawness of Guanheng’s voice. He belatedly understands why Guanheng’s hiding. He peels Guanheng away carefully, pushing Guanheng’s shoulder back to reveal his face. Guanheng has his eyes shut tight and Renjun sighs. It doesn’t sound angry or upset, rather a mix of exhaustion and inevitable endearment. 

“Heng.”

It coaxes Guanheng to open one eye slowly. He takes a few quick moments to study Renjun’s face and when he deems it safe, he opens both eyes and lies more comfortably next to Renjun. They both face the ceiling because it’s awkward to get in touch with their emotions— it always is with family— but it’s clear that they both need this moment.

“I’m sorry for putting you in this mess,” Guanheng breathes out. “I know how much you like Jisung and I know I might have made things harder for you by putting you through this whole thing.”

Renjun’s stomach gets tight. “Heng, stop being a sap.”

“And I just feel so bad,” Guanheng continues, guilt drenching his tone, “especially when Yuqi and Xuxi kept on saying things about the two of you. About how Jisung acts around you. I know it’s all acting and it must hurt you inside. But I really, honestly didn’t mean for things to be this way.” 

Renjun groans because he doesn’t like it when they have deep talks like this despite having a fair share of them throughout their lives. Between his cousins, he’s been more vulnerable with Guanheng and while it is true that he loves his cousins all the same, he’s more attached to Guanheng than the others. It has always been that way. While Xuxi has Yuqi, he has Guanheng. Guanheng and him have been paired at the hip since diaperhood and they’d punch anyone for each other as much as they like to punch each other. 

And as much as Guanheng plays a hand in this fake relationship Renjun has to live through for a couple of days, Renjun’s to blame as well. You know what people say; birds of a feather flock together and Renjun’s and Guanheng’s feathers brand them a pair of dumb idiots. Renjun tells him as much, that they’re both unapologetic fools and this situation was probably inevitable no matter the choices they made. 

“So stop caring for and crying over my feelings and well-being. It makes you look nice when you’re not.”

Guanheng sniffles a laugh. He pouts, turning his head against the pillow to look at Renjun. “You don’t hate me?”

“I always hate you, Heng. It’s been over twenty years.” 

Guanheng barks out a loud laugh and Renjun breaks into one as well, nudging Guanheng’s side playfully. “No,” he breathes out once their laughter dies and he stares blankly at the ceiling again. It’s a belated answer he doesn’t elaborate on. _No_ , he doesn’t hate Guanheng and he’s sure that’s all Guanheng needs to hear. Everything else will fill in and ease Guanheng’s doubts naturally.

“It’s just one day left,” Guanheng points out quietly, his hand patting Renjun’s stomach as an act of comfort. “I’ll help you through every step of the way.”

“Thanks, Heng.”

“You’ll breeze through it! I know you will! It’s not that bad though, isn’t it? You’ve been smiling around him ever since we got here.”

“Well, it’s not every day the boy you’ve been having a crush on for over a year becomes your boyfriend,” Renjun murmurs. He blinks at the ceiling. “It’s been nice, if I look past the fact that it’s all pretend. He’s so lovely and I just, I really like him.” Renjun winces at how sappy he sounds. He groans as he rolls himself over to bury his face into his pillow and wish he didn’t have feelings. “Everything’s so dumb. I’m so dumb.”

“You’re not dumb for liking someone. Once this whole thing is done, I’m starting operation: help Renjun get over his crush.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Renjun comments dryly into his pillow. “My version of that operation’s been in progress since forever. If I can’t help me, odds are you can’t either.”

“I’m going to at least try.”

“It’ll be useless.”

Guanheng sighs. “Have some faith in yourself, Jun! You can and will get over it.” 

Renjun knows Guanheng means it genuinely and he appreciates it.

“I just need time,” he murmurs quietly. He doesn’t know how much time. It’s been more than a year and he doesn’t like Jisung any less with every passing day. In fact, he might even be moving counterproductively. 

Guanheng caresses the back of his head. “It’s okay. Take things one at a time. You don’t have to worry about anything else other than getting through this whole thing for now. Once this is over, that’s one less worry off your hands.”

Renjun sighs, turning his head on the pillow to look at Guanheng. “Sometimes you don’t sound so dumb.”

Guanheng grins. “Sometimes my brain acts like one.”

Renjun snorts. “Yeah, sometimes.”

When the night gets deeper and Renjun is tucked into bed while Jisung settles on the futon below, Renjun finds that he can’t sleep. Jisung is still awake too because when Renjun rolls over and peers down, he sees Jisung scrolling mindlessly through his phone. 

“Jisungie.”

“Hmm?”

“Do you want to drink hot chocolate with me?”

Jisung looks up from his phone and laughs when he sees Renjun’s head at the edge of the bed. “Yeah, sure.”

They both sneak into the kitchen and Jisung waits by the kitchen counter while Renjun makes them their hot chocolate. Renjun passes Jisung a mug when he’s done and nurses his own as they both lean against the kitchen counter. The house is quiet at this hour and Jisung tries not to be too loud when he speaks.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“Yeah,” Renjun murmurs into his mug.

“Are you worried for tomorrow?”

“A little. Aren’t you?”

“I don’t know.”

Silence passes and the only sounds are them sipping their drinks. It takes a few moments before Jisung speaks again. His voice is quiet again, but this time it’s because he’s unsure. “What’s going to happen when this is all over?”

Renjun scoffs harmlessly and pulls his mug away from his lips. He eyes Jisung. “Well, obviously, we have to break up so I can set you free.”

Jisung pouts, like the idea of it upsets him and Renjun finds his reaction ridiculous yet completely endearing. He rubs below Jisung’s chin to get rid of the pout. 

“Why are you sad over me ending our fake relationship? It won’t change anything between us. You know that.”

Jisung sips his hot chocolate, muttering his answer into his mug. “I think your family will be sad. They seem to really like me.”

Renjun snorts. “That’s pretty narcissistic of you.” But he knows Jisung means it in the nicest way and not because he had wanted to brag so he fondly ruffles Jisung’s bangs. He arranges it back down neatly as he speaks. “They like you more than me that’s for sure.”

“I like them too.”

Renjun warms at the confession. “You do?”

“They’re nice to me.”

“Because you’re nice.”

“I’ve been lying to them though,” Jisung mumbles. “I feel sorry.”

Renjun’s stomach gets tight. He’s sorry too.

Jisung shakes his head, a wry smile appearing on his face. “I agreed to it in the first place. I just wished I could have met your family under different circumstances, you know?”

Renjun nods, exhaling. “Yeah, I get it. But hey, I’m lying to them too. And even though you’re lying to them... you’re making them happy. It’s not a bad lie, technically. My grandma will be so happy to see you. You’ll really make her day.”

It manages to put a tiny smile on Jisung’s face. Renjun pats Jisung’s cheek at the sight of it.

Jisung exhales and looks up from his mug into Renjun’s eyes. “I guess we’re sinning together for the greater good then.”

Renjun barks out a laugh at that. “I guess we are.”

“Here’s to one last day as boyfriends. I’ve had a great time.” Jisung says, holding his mug out between them, ready to clink their mugs together.

Renjun studies Jisung, feeling a little weird about the way Jisung says it. “You’ve had a great time?” he asks slowly. He tries to discern if Jisung is saying that he’s had a great time as his boyfriend or that he’s having a great time in general.

Jisung hums. “Almost like I don’t want it to end.”

Renjun stares at him. He still doesn’t quite understand what Jisung means. 

“Cheers,” Jisung smiles, all warm and cute, so Renjun relents into pushing his thoughts away and clinks his mug together with Jisung’s.

He meets Jisung’s eyes and gives him an encouraging smile. “To surviving one last day.”

“One last day,” Jisung echoes. “Let’s have fun.”

When Renjun wakes up, Jisung is missing. He emerges from his room to the opposite of peace. Yuqi and Xuxi are bickering over their bowls of fried rice at the dining table. He takes a moment to remember why his living room looks different and when he does, the huge banner on the wall reminds him again. Today is the day. 

“Someone slept in without guilt,” Xuxi comments at his appearance. 

Renjun rolls his eyes and jerks the back of Xuxi’s head down as he passes by him. He sits opposite the duo and serves himself a bowl of fried rice. 

“Where’s Heng and Sung?”

“Your dad felt like we didn’t have enough drinks in the house so he pulled Heng to tag along who pulled your boyfriend along as well,” Yuqi explains.

Renjun makes noises at the back of his throat. “You guys keep making Sung do work.”

“Hey Heng was about to drag _you_ out of bed but Jisung sacrificed himself so you could sleep in,” Yuqi informs him, giving him a pointed look. She points her chopsticks at him but her voice comes out gentler. “He didn’t want to wake you. He’s so considerate meanwhile you slept like a log and let your boyfriend be dragged around by Heng.”

Renjun swallows dryly. Jisung really didn’t have to sacrifice himself just so Renjun could get more shut eye. He said he would be responsible for Jisung but his debt to Jisung only seems to grow. “I was asleep,” he mumbles. “How was I supposed to know?”

“I wouldn’t give up sleep for anything. I think that speaks of how much he likes you,” Xuxi shares as he shoves a large amount of rice into his mouth. Renjun slows the movement of his chopsticks. Xuxi speaks through a mouthful of food. “He somehow always ends up talking about you and when I pointed that out, he blushed so hard. Didn’t he?”

“It was cute,” Yuqi agrees. “A bit much, but cute.”

Renjun forces himself to take a bite of his breakfast. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he murmurs.

Xuxi barks out a laugh mid-chew. “Sure you don’t. And you’re not protective of him at all either, right?”

“Oh, of course he’s not,” Yuqi backs Xuxi up. Yuqi smirks while Xuxi snickers and Renjun wishes they choke on their food.

“Maybe if my cousins were decent people I wouldn’t need to be,” Renjun retorts.

“We _are_ nice. Nicer than you anyway.”

Renjun sticks his tongue out at Yuqi and gets the same in return and breakfast proceeds chaotically, as it always does when they’re all home. 

After breakfast, a few of Renjun’s relatives arrive early just to set the atmosphere and help with the last few party touches. The house gets lively in no time with chatters filling in every corner.

Jisung becomes a little of a superstar; everyone tries to steal him away to ambush him with endless questions. Renjun’s parents boast about how helpful Jisung has been and compliments Jisung’s looks, his manners, his intelligence, so much that Renjun thinks they’ve forgotten who their biological son is. 

Jisung shies under the attention but he doesn’t reject anyone that tries to strike a conversation with him. He’s friendly and sweet and effortlessly adorable and Renjun understands why his family are all taken by him. He isn’t immune, in fact he’s the biggest victim to Jisung’s charms yet. He sticks around Jisung, not like glue because he’s not protective to the point of possessive, but he hovers around just in case Jisung gets uncomfortable or needs some rescuing from an overbearing aunt or uncle. 

Jisung manages himself impressively. He spends a deal of time with Xuxi laughing at the stories shared amongst his aunts. At one point Yuqi steals him away to taste test the dumplings which Renjun’s uncle complains of favouritism. 

“He’s young and handsome,” Yuqi points out, being cheeky. “Meanwhile your hair is greying and you have a belly.”

That leads to an uproar of laughter and more chatter and Renjun relaxes when he sees Jisung smiling. He occasionally rests his hand on Jisung’s shoulder and strokes the back of Jisung’s neck when he manages to sit beside Jisung to reassure him that he’s within reach should Jisung find him. Jisung appreciates it, from the way he leans into Renjun’s space and leans against Renjun’s side when he laughs. 

The clock ticks closer to the time Renjun’s grandmother is supposed to arrive. She’s being escorted by one of Renjun’s uncles. Renjun, Jisung, Guanheng, Xuxi and Yuqi are the only ones that aren’t dressed up yet. They have to get ready but Yuqi’s younger siblings that arrived just half an hour ago are clinging around Jisung and asking Jisung to play with them. Renjun has to literally pull Jisung away to get changed. 

“I’m watching you!” One of the tykes shouts as Renjun tugs Jisung by the hand into his room. Renjun rolls his eyes and laces his fingers with Jisung’s firmly just to spite them, claiming that they’re not going to get Jisung back. Jisung just chuckles.

He brings Jisung into his room and they change into decent dress shirts and pants with their backs faced towards each other.

“Done?” Jisung asks.

Renjun does up his last button. “Done.”

They both turn around to face each other. Jisung’s face warms and he gives Renjun a shy smile. Renjun rarely sees Jisung dress up— they’re both lazy college students— so seeing Jisung in a nice outfit that accentuates his lean form and bring out his good looks makes Renjun appreciate how handsome he is. 

“You look nice,” Jisung tells him.

“So do you.”

Jisung’s eyes crinkles at the compliment. He helps correct the collar of Renjun’s dress shirt and Renjun stays still while he does it. When Jisung’s done, Jisung scans over his face, his gaze gentle.

“This is it, hyung.”

Renjun breathes and nods. “This is it.”

“The last day.”

“You’ve been doing really well,” Renjun tells him, smiling softly and tickling below his chin. 

“I wasn’t really acting anyway,” Jisung mumbles while scrunching his face. “Didn’t have to.”

Renjun stares at him. He knits his brows together. “What?”

“Hmm?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s nothing. Seriously, hyung. Stop thinking about it.” But Jisung smiles like he’s keeping a secret. Before Renjun can refute, Jisung wraps his hand around Renjun’s wrist and pulls him out of the room. “Come on, hyung, they’re all waiting!”

When Renjun’s grandmother arrives outside the house, they all try to be as quiet as they can. Once the door opens, they burst into view to surprise her. It wasn’t supposed to be a surprise party but the idea had seemed fun and his grandmother had always loved surprises.

Shock takes over her face before she grabs the nearest person and starts hitting them for scaring her old heart. The poor soul happens to be Xuxi, who also happens to be the only one in the room that isn’t laughing. Xuxi weathers her (harsh) physical show of affection and leads her to the couch. Yuqi places a flower crown on top of her head which makes her blush like a young schoolgirl. Everyone welcomes her lovingly and wishes her a happy birthday. It’s only when she’s fully settled and received greetings from most of Renjun’s relatives does Renjun pull Jisung up with him to go greet her. Renjun holds Jisung’s hands while they approach her not for show but because he can tell that Jisung is nervous and needs all the encouragement he can get. He’s cute, the way he keeps blinking nervously but Renjun’s hand in his seems to make him breathe easier.

“Nǎi nai, happy birthday!” Renjun wishes her, kissing her cheek. 

She makes a noise of surprise at the sudden kiss but she gives in to a smile. Her eyes dart to Jisung and Renjun thinks she couldn’t look any happier. She eyes their laced fingers delightedly and says, “You brought me a special gift!”

“Well, he’s mine,” Renjun remarks playfully, “but I thought I could share him with you on your birthday.”

That makes Jisung laugh. He lets go of Renjun’s hand to politely gather his own ones in front of his stomach. He bows. “Nice to meet you. I’m Park Jisung.”

“You’re my grandson’s boyfriend.”

Jisung looks back up at her and smiles. He nods. 

“It took me turning seventy to finally meet you. Come, sit!” She ushers, patting the space beside her. Renjun sits to her right and holds her hand while Jisung sits on her left. “I’ve been waiting forever to meet you. Renjun’s kept you a secret for so long.”

She bombards Jisung with a whole truck of questions which Renjun fears might make Jisung feel uneasy but Jisung doesn’t show any signs of discomfort. She asks Jisung about how they met, how long they’ve been together and all the basic questions they’ve prepared themselves for. She looks so delighted at the fact that Renjun has brought someone home and as happy Renjun is to see her smile, he also feels a hundred times more sorry. But he buries it deep down with all the other things his conscience niggles him about. 

It’s easy to tell that she’s fond of Jisung. She gives Jisung her unwavering attention and laughs at all of Jisung’s silly little jokes. Jisung is cheeky in his answers while being respectful and polite and that seems to earn him brownie points. Jisung is actually doing so well that Renjun is impressed and silently proud that his entire extended family is in love with him. From the youngest to the oldest, Jisung has all of them charmed without even trying hard. 

Before Renjun knows it, a number of his relatives have gathered around the couch to listen in to the conversation. Guanheng, Yuqi and Xuxi are there too, of course. Anything to get material to embarrass Renjun with. 

“Why do you like him?” Renjun’s grandmother asks out of the blue, flustering Renjun more than Jisung himself. “What makes my Jun so special to you?”

“Nǎi nai,” Renjun warns, squeezing her hand. He glances at the small group around them and speaks behind his teeth. “You’re embarrassing me.”

“Oh go on!” Yuqi bumbles excitedly. She’s standing behind the couch with her arms crossed over it. “I’m honestly so curious too. How did Jun manage to bag a gem like Jisung still boggles my mind.”

“You’re making me sound way nicer than I actually am,” Jisung laughs, scratching the back of his neck bashfully. Renjun sends Guanheng a look as a signal for him to jump in when things get uncomfortable for Jisung. The look Guanheng sends him back is reassuring.

“He’s just very nice to me,” Jisung shares, sounding shy which makes Xuxi let out weird noises of fondness. “He always puts my comfort first and ensures that I never get upset by anyone. It’s new. For me. No one’s ever treated me like that and I thought it was very sweet and thoughtful of him. He’s also very cute, all the time.” Jisung eyes him, his eyes twinkling. “Even when he’s angry.”

Yuqi practically wheezes and Xuxi makes a sound that doesn’t sound human. Guanheng chokes and coughs, clearly not expecting those words to come out of Jisung’s mouth. Renjun doesn’t know how Jisung lies so effortlessly and smoothly but he blushes so hard that Yuqi’s little brother that had stuck around for this part of the conversation points it out. He blushes even harder and tells him to go run off or eat food off the ground and stay out of the adults’ conversation. He gets a tongue stuck out at him for it before the little devil runs off.

“Sorry, too much?” Jisung laughs, his cheeks flushed but Renjun’s grandmother says she’s so grateful Jisung feels that way.

“I’m just so happy Jun found someone who likes him so much. He always gives his whole heart, I always worry he’ll end up hurt. But my worries are at rest seeing how he’s found someone so nice and to my liking too.”

Renjun groans, hiding his face behind his arm, which earns him a reprimanding glare. 

“You better treat him right. If you don’t bring him home again, I’ll never forgive you.”

“You love him more than you love me,” Renjun points out, feigning being upset.

“I’ve seen enough of you,” his grandmother teases which makes them all laugh.

Renjun scoffs but he snuggles into her. “I love you, Nǎi nai.”

Renjun tries not to hog her, eventually leaving the couch to let everyone else be showered by love and shower her with love. Gift unwrapping commences soon enough, and she gleams at the brooch and scarf Renjun and Jisung had gotten her. Cake cutting takes place shortly after and the chatter only grows as they launch themselves into games. 

Jisung sits beside Renjun throughout, his smile never fading and his laughter tinkling sweetly in Renjun’s ear. His hand is warm on Renjun’s thigh when he reaches for Renjun as he laughs and when he leans his head against Renjun’s shoulder under the excuse of recharging his energy, Renjun finds that he likes it. He likes that Jisung gets recharged around him. 

“Is this too much?” Renjun asks quietly, pushing Jisung’s hair out of his face. “My family gatherings are often this big of an event.”

Jisung shakes his head against Renjun’s shoulder. “It’s not like you didn’t warn me. Besides, it’s a lot of fun.”

“Chaotic, isn’t it?”

“It is,” Jisung murmurs with a laugh. “But it feels exactly right. A little like you.”

“What?” Renjun laughs, jerking his head back to look at Jisung properly. “What does that mean?”

“It means what it means,” Jisung mutters, his smile ever mysterious. Renjun frowns at him for it but he rubs his head against Renjun’s shoulder to ease his manner. “It doesn’t mean anything. Stop thinking too much. By the way, I promised your younger cousins we would play with them. I’m afraid they’ll whine if we don’t.”

Renjun sighs, lending Jisung his shoulder for a while longer until they get dragged away to play with the small devils. Renjun spends the rest of the day sharing Jisung with everyone else. He gets bullied by the kids, teased by his cousins and his parents, and his aunts and uncles won’t stop offering Jisung food throughout. He gets used by everyone so they can get to Jisung and the only reason he tolerates it is because Jisung deserves the love they shower him with. 

When the day gets late, Renjun’s grandmother insists on not staying over so as not to trouble the family. She leaves, not before demanding a hug from Jisung which Jisung willingly gives. Everyone takes their leave after and by the time the last person’s left, it’s a little past midnight. The house is a big mess but they’re all leaving the cleanup for tomorrow.

When Renjun enters his room with Jisung, they both flop onto the bed horizontally, their legs dangling from the edge.

“That was the most tiring, stress-inducing birthday party ever.”

“It’s finally over though,” Jisung hums. “I can’t believe we got through it without any major hiccups.”

Renjun turns his head towards Jisung. “You’re surprisingly good at acting. Who knew you could be a good liar.”

“I just said what was on my mind,” Jisung shrugs. “I only said what I felt.”

Renjun doesn’t quite know how to take that nor does he quite know what Jisung is trying to imply. “Sung?”

“Hmm?”

“Jisungie look at me.” Jisung does. He looks tired, his eyes halfway lost to sleep but there’s a small smile on his lips. Renjun’s stomach churns and when he braves to reach out and caress Jisung’s cheek, Jisung doesn’t shy away from the touch. Jisung even relishes it, turning his head in Renjun’s hand and lets out a sigh as he closes his eyes. Renjun’s heart flutters at the way Jisung relaxes at his touch. He thumbs Jisung’s cheekbone, his heart pattering a light rhythm in his chest. “You’ve been saying weird things to me the whole day,” he murmurs.

“They’re not weird,” Jisung mumbles sleepily. “They make sense in my head.”

Renjun mutters out a laugh. “Not in mine.”

“Then just wait for it to. It’ll come.”

“That doesn’t make any sense either.”

Jisung smiles and Renjun feels his breath grazing his palm. Jisung’s face this close is so pretty and he can’t help but stare. It’s a good thing Jisung’s eyes are closed. 

“Can you wake me when Xuxi hyung’s out of the bathroom? I want to wash up.”

Renjun swallows thickly, staring at Jisung’s face. His heart clenches and he forces his eyes away. 

Their little boyfriends act has ended and he’s reminded all over again of what is real and what isn’t. He pushes it back for now because he’s not in the mood for feeling miserable over himself. He focuses on this moment, Jisung in his childhood bed, warm and sleepy and next to him. He mindlessly thumbs Jisung’s cheek longer which seems to lull Jisung deeper to sleep. “Sure,” he whispers, pretty certain Jisung has already drifted off.

The next day everyone wakes up late, with the exception of Renjun’s parents who woke up earlier than them despite claiming that they slept in too. The house has been cleaned up almost completely when Renjun comes out of his room. They do a little more wiping, sweeping and rearranging before everything returns to normal. 

Today is the day Jisung’s leaving while Renjun spends the last few days of their one week term break at home. He’s not about to ‘abuse’ Jisung’s friendship and make Jisung stay longer than necessary. He’ll be setting Jisung free and sending him back to campus with Guanheng.

His mother packs a load of dishes for Jisung to bring back to the dorm. Her motherly instincts had kicked in when she found out Jisung was going back to campus instead of home because his parents are away on a short trip. Renjun helped Jisung pack while Jisung was busy being fussed over and now he’s waiting with Guanheng by Guanheng’s car outside.

They lean against the hood of the car, waiting for Jisung to appear. 

“So,” Guanheng drawls, stealing a careful glance at Renjun. “You’ve been quiet since you woke up.”

“Well what’s there to say,” Renjun laughs emptily, trying to make his tone sound casual. The fact is that he’d spent the whole of last night mulling over the events of the past few days, flipping over Jisung’s words and trying to make sense of them.

It’s just.. the way Jisung had been acting and the things he says... Jisung hadn’t been pretending the past few days, this Renjun knows because Jisung had said it himself. Renjun is scared to find out what all of this adds up to. His chest gets tighter thinking about it and he streams out an exhale to ease it. He doesn’t know what to make of the conclusion his brain has come up with.

“Heng,” he starts, hesitant, swallowing dryly. “Do you ever think... Jisung could like me back?”

“I think there’s a possibility for every play of situation.”

Renjun stares at him hard. “Which means you also believe in a reality where he doesn’t.”

Guanheng’s lips quirk up, pleased that he had unexpectedly ruffled Renjun’s feathers. He laughs, a harmless one and elbows Renjun’s side. “I believe in a lot of things. But I also believe that it seems you have reasons to consider why he might like you back?”

Renjun ducks his head down, toeing the dirt listlessly. “He’s just... he says things. And he _does_ things that make me think maybe he wouldn’t mind, or even wants? Something more? With me. It might be a wild _maybe_ but I have this weird feeling that he might like me back.”

“That’s scary.”

“ _Terrifying_ ,” Renjun breathes out, turning his head enough to meet Guanheng’s eyes.

“That you might actually get the one thing you’ve been wishing for?”

“Or that I thought I might but it turns out I was wrong.”

“Hey,” Guanheng says, gentle. “Weird feelings in your gut are usually right.”

“Or you really need the bathroom.”

Guanheng points a finger at him. “Or that.” Guanheng smiles, his stupid goofy smile which always makes Renjun worry but also strangely puts him at ease. “But you know what? It’s tiring having a crush for over an entire year. You’re my favourite cousin, which is why I’m telling you this. Help yourself by telling him. And the fact he might like you back? Awesome! If he doesn’t, well, that sucks but you can come crash my dorms until we figure things out. You should do it for yourself, Jun.”

Renjun stares at Guanheng, wondering when did Guanheng grow so wise. 

“When did you grow up, Heng? You went from three years old to twenty-three.”

“I went through a growth spurt last night,” Guanheng grins.

Jisung comes out of the door soon enough with Xuxi and Yuqi clinging to each of his arms. Renjun can’t help but laugh at the sight of it. Jisung catches his eye and he makes a pleading expression which Renjun doesn’t have the heart to say no to. He lifts himself off the hood of the car to get to Jisung and stretches out a hand for Jisung to take. Jisung takes it like a lifeline and detaches himself from Renjun’s two cousins. Yuqi whines and calls him selfish but he hardly cares because the heat of Jisung’s palm is gracing his own and Jisung slowly laces their fingers. He smiles back at Jisung, not at all sorry for leaving Xuxi and Yuqi behind. 

“Thanks,” Jisung mumbles, sidling completely next to Renjun. “They’re nice, but don’t tell them this— their energies combined are scary.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Everyone feels the same.”

Just before they get into the car, Renjun’s parents join Yuqi and Xuxi at the front porch. Jisung waves them goodbye by the car and makes promises he’ll come again soon (a last lie to keep the smiles on their faces). Jisung gets in the back of the car and when Renjun slides in next to him instead of taking the passenger seat, neither Jisung nor Guanheng say anything about it. Renjun thinks he can pull it off as wanting to make the others believe the boyfriend act up to the last moment when it’s actually just him wanting to be next to Jisung. To try figure things out in his head. Guanheng gets in and starts the engine. While Jisung waves out the window to Renjun’s family, Renjun thinks about how weird it is that it takes him and Jisung breaking up for him to consider a chance of them getting together. 

“Free at last,” Guanheng remarks once they’re on the highway. He looks at them through the rearview mirror. Jisung’s slumped back against the seats and Renjun’s peering out the window with some space between them.

“Yeah,” Jisung laughs, glancing at the back of Guanheng’s head. “We did it.”

“ _You_ did it. Incredible liar, you are. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“That’s what Renjun hyung said too. Right, hyung?” 

Renjun turns his head back from the window. “Huh?” He blinks at Jisung’s face, the conversation belatedly processed by his brain. He clears himself out of his daze and shifts closer to Jisung. He pats the top of Jisung’s head and strokes down the back of his neck. “Yeah, you did a great job, Jisungie. You saved my life.”

“That’s a bit of a stretch.”

“It isn’t, trust me,” Guanheng retorts.

Jisung relents into a smile. “Well, then I’m glad I could help.”

“Glad you did,” Renjun tells him honestly. 

Jisung is about to say something in return but he yawns instead, covering his mouth with a surprised expression. Renjun suppresses a laugh, tickles below Jisung’s chin because of how adorable he looks. Jisung must be tired. They did end up sleeping pretty late last night and it has been a notably exhausting few days.

Jisung’s probably too nice to sleep while Guanheng drives them. Renjun thinks Jisung would feel better if he sleeps during the ride too just so Jisung wouldn’t feel bad about being the only one sleeping.

“Heng, you don’t mind if we sleep do you? I’ll drive on the way back.”

Guanheng answers agreeably. “Sure.”

Renjun sticks himself next to Jisung to encourage Jisung to relax and get some shut eye. Jisung drops his head onto Renjun’s shoulder without prompt, crowding into himself to fit by Renjun’s side. Jisung closes his eyes and Renjun watches him slowly fall asleep. Renjun doesn’t sleep, doesn’t think he can. He holds his hand over Jisung’s thighs throughout the ride, ready to hold Jisung back in case the car jerks. 

Guanheng meets his eyes through the rearview mirror, giving him a look which makes heat crawl up his neck. “Shut up,” he mumbles, tearing his gaze away, but his hand remains over Jisung’s thighs to keep him safe and his shoulder stays in place for him. 

When they reach the dorm and Jisung thanks Guanheng for the ride back, Renjun announces that he’ll send Jisung up. It surprises Jisung because there isn’t a need to, although he doesn’t object to it. Guanheng catches on quickly to Renjun’s intentions and gives him a wink when Jisung isn’t looking which makes Renjun want to have him in a chokehold. 

There’s a sense of comfort upon returning back to their shared dorm room, their home away from home. Jisung drops his bag wherever and makes a beeline for his bed, sighing out loud as he buries his head into his pillow. Renjun laughs watching him, pats his back while he passes and sits at the edge of his own bed. He holds himself upright by his arms and watches as Jisung rolls onto his side.

“Rough few days?” he jokes.

“Wild few days,” Jisung corrects with an easy smile. 

“Well, good news for you, we’re breaking up.”

“Hyung, what if,” Jisung says, sitting himself up with his legs hanging over the bed. He takes in a breath. “What if, we didn’t break up?”

Renjun is touched by Jisung’s intentions but he shakes his head. “I can’t keep using you, Sung, no matter how nice you are.”

“No, what I mean is, what if..” Jisung swallows and he takes a moment to choose his words. His voice comes out softer. “What if we were actually boyfriends?”

Renjun feels like he’s in a car going full speed and someone has stepped on the brakes without warning. “What?”

“You know, boyfriends. You and me.”

Renjun’s heart beats faster and faster. 

Jisung bites his cheeks. “The thing is, I really like you, hyung. It’s been a while now, actually. It’s partly why I agreed to the whole thing in the first place.” Jisung blinks, staring at his lap instead of at Renjun. “Then actually pretending to be boyfriends with you... I realised that I wanted it for real.”

Renjun’s face is hardened, shock setting him still like a rock. He can’t believe he’d been right about Jisung liking him back. It _is_ terrifying. He doesn’t know where to go from here. 

“You want to be boyfriends for real?”

“For real,” Jisung says in a small voice, tentatively lifting his gaze to meet Renjun’s. “If you feel the same way I do.”

Renjun stares incredulously at Jisung. His nerves sing louder and he tries to keep them under control. “Sung I don’t know how to tell you this but I’ve liked you for a hell of a long time now.”

Jisung’s smile grows, which makes the flutters in Renjun’s stomach go wild. Jisung doesn’t seem as relieved as Renjun thought he would and this piece of information acts like a final puzzle, piecing up all the broken links that hadn’t made sense before. 

Renjun balks. “But you already had an idea, didn’t you?”

Jisung smiles sheepishly. “You’re a little easy to read. But it wasn’t until we pretended to be together that I was sure how you felt. It was cute watching you.”

Renjun thinks he might just shrivel up from embarrassment. “Oh my god _._ You _knew_ I liked you! I must have looked like an idiot!” He stares at Jisung with wide eyes, half-affronted. “You were trying to hint me that you like me back, weren’t you! And I didn’t have a single clue till this morning!”

Jisung laughs, grabbing a pillow to hug as he watches Renjun go through his epiphany. “I told you, it’ll all come to you. It took you faster than I thought it would though.”

“Shut up,” Renjun groans. He drops his face in his palms to hide himself. 

Jisung likes him back. He’s going to go out of his mind. He’d known it was a possibility but having it turn into reality was not something he was optimistic about. His brain is currently going feral from not knowing what to do.

“You’re so cute, hyung,” Jisung mumbles with a shy laugh. “I really like you.”

Renjun feels _so_ embarrassed. He lifts his head and peeks through his fingers. He mutters, “Gosh, you really don’t understand how much I like you, do you?”

Jisung shrugs and sends Renjun a twinkle of his eyes. “Help me understand.”

“Don’t just say things,” Renjun mumbles, feeling his face heat up. 

Jisung simply laughs. “So what do we do now?”

Renjun doesn’t quite know either. One thing is for sure though, he still can’t believe that his harboured feelings are reciprocated. And as much as he wants to stay and go through things slowly with Jisung about their new found truths, Guanheng is currently waiting for him downstairs for him to drive them back home. 

Renjun pulls his hands away from his face. His heart still thumps loud in his chest. He takes in a breath. “Well, what we don’t do is tell my family we’re breaking up.”

Jisung laughs which makes Renjun smile. Renjun really wishes he didn’t have to leave. “I really want to stay with you but my parents-”

“You should go,” Jisung agrees, completely understanding. “We can figure things out when you get back next week. There’s no rush. I’ll still like you when you return.”

Renjun huffs out a laugh and tries not to blush. He stands up reluctantly, knowing he should probably get down before Guanheng starts spamming his phone with calls. Jisung stands up too, feeling a little sad that Renjun has to go. But it’s not like Renjun won’t come back. He’ll be back here in a few days before school starts again. Somehow it feels like an awfully long time apart.

Renjun bites his lips when Jisung stands in front of him at the door. He sways hesitantly on the balls of his feet. “Can we go on a date when I get back? I want to take you on one,” Renjun confesses, the tips of his ears going pink.

Jisung nods shyly. Renjun’s heart goes a little crazy. 

“I’d like that,” Jisung smiles. 

Renjun tries not to smile too widely. Gosh, he _is_ easy to read, isn’t he? He lets out a nervous breath. “So, I guess I’ll see you Sunday night?”

“Yeah,” Jisung says. “I’ll wait for you.”

“Okay,” Renjun breathes, finding it difficult to bring his feet to move outside the door. He swallows. “So what do we-”

“We can do this,” Jisung laughs and pulls Renjun into his chest, hugging Renjun gently just to test the waters. Renjun is definitely more than okay with it. Jisung feels warm and soft despite his arms being strong and firm around him. It’s a feeling Renjun can see himself craving for and he just knows he’s going to think about this moment for the whole of today. 

He relaxes in the embrace. He returns the hug, comfortably wrapping his arms around Jisung, feeling Jisung squeezing him tighter. Jisung’s cheek is mushed against his temple and half of his face is hidden into Jisung’s shoulder. 

“I’ll call you tonight.”

“Okay,” Renjun mutters. Jisung slowly lets him go and smiles, a little goofy and sheepish. Renjun likes it a lot. 

“You’re cute,” Renjun says before Jisung can beat him to it.

Jisung laughs. “It’s why you like me,” he quips and Renjun can’t find that he disagrees.

“Brat,” Renjun utters, more fond than anything as he pats Jisung’s head. “I have to go now.”

“Okay,” Jisung says. Jisung steps closer and holds his jaw gingerly before leaving a feather of a kiss on his cheek. 

Renjun blinks and his brain goes stupid and makes him freeze. His stupor causes Jisung to hesitate. “I’m sorry that was-”

“Nice,” Renjun quickly interjects, his heart racing in his chest but he feels so light and giddy. “It was... nice. It was very nice.”

Relief colours Jisung’s face. “Really?”

Renjun’s cheeks heat up. “Yeah.”

Jisung stifles a laugh and for a silly moment all they can do is just gaze wordlessly at each other.

Jisung eventually breaks it. He scratches his ears, the corner of his lips tugged up. “Uh, I think Guanheng hyung-”

“Oh right!” Renjun flusters and makes for the door. Jisung watches him as he opens it but before he leaves, he gives Jisung a sincere smile that relays his nervousness, excitement and happiness all in one. His voice is gentle. “I’ll see you in a few days, Jisungie.”

Jisung nods and smiles with his eyes. “I’ll be right here when you come back. Be safe. I’ll miss you.”

Renjun goes back down dizzily. Guanheng is already in the passenger seat and he eyes Renjun all the while Renjun straps himself at the driver’s seat. 

“So,” Guanheng stretches the word as he studies Renjun. “That took a while. Please tell me I didn’t wait twenty whole minutes for nothing.”

Renjun huffs out a breath as he starts the car and starts them on the road. He readjusts his grip on the steering wheel. He can’t keep up his nonchalant act because he feels so happy. His lips can’t help curling up when he side glances at Guanheng.

Guanheng gets impatiently curious. He shakes his legs and bites his cheek. “So?”

“Score,” Renjun breathes out, breaking into the hugest grin yet. 

Guanheng beams, jumping in his seat, his seatbelt barely holding him back. He laughs delightedly, eliciting one from Renjun as well. “Hell yeah!” Guanheng exclaims, pumping his fist dramatically. “Damn I might be the biggest brained Huang there is! What would you do without me, Jun! Oh my god we should tell Mark! I’m gonna call him right now.”

Renjun rolls his eyes but a smile slips onto his face. Just this once, he lets Guanheng have it. 

“Gosh what’s taking them so long,” Renjun mumbles, hopping from one feet to the other to keep the cold from getting to him. He’s all bundled up in his coat, even has a scarf around his neck and a beanie pulled down over his ears but he’s always been weak to the cold even if he loves winter and snow. And on top of it all, it’s Christmas. He loves Christmas and it’s Jisung’s first Christmas with his family. Not only are they both excited, Renjun’s whole family is too.

“I can hear Xuxi hyung from here,” Jisung laughs. Renjun hears him too. Xuxi had shouted thirty seconds ago that he’ll get the door and yet here they are still waiting to be saved from the cold two minutes later.

“I’m freezing,” Renjun complains and tries not to chatter his teeth. Jisung wraps an arm around his shoulder and squeezes him tight and Renjun finds that it helps a lot. He snuggles closer to warm himself up.

“Just be a little patient, I’m sure they’ll let us in soon enough.”

Renjun sighs, leaning forward to knock on the door again before quickly retreating back to Jisung’s side. Jisung laughs at him, wrapping his arm low around Renjun’s waist. Renjun tries to send him a glare for laughing at him but Jisung is hardly affected. No, instead he simply leans down to kiss Renjun’s lips. 

Renjun concedes way too easily. Jisung squeezes his waist and he grabs the collar of Jisung’s coat to kiss him properly. He hums, savouring the way Jisung kisses him sweet. Jisung always kisses him like he wants to remember every second of it and he loves it like that. He smiles, his hands coming up to cup Jisung’s cheeks and he makes their kiss last longer. Jisung kisses him back, passionate but tender and it makes his toes curl. 

They part, but barely and Renjun’s eyes flutter open to see Jisung smiling with his eyes closed. Renjun’s so endeared he’d fight higher powers for him. “Are you nervous?” he mumbles, sliding Jisung’s hair away from his eyes. Jisung opens them slowly and brings up a hand to Renjun’s cheek. He thumbs it mindlessly.

“I’m looking forward to it actually,” Jisung admits, a cute little smile accompanying the curves of his eyes. 

“It’ll be fun,” Renjun promises him, pleased that Jisung is excited for it.

Jisung nods. Renjun is still shivering so Jisung opens his coat and pulls Renjun in front of him, wrapping Renjun up like a burrito. Renjun is thankful for it and leans back into Jisung’s chest. Renjun feels like he’s wrapped in a blanket, all snuggled and warm.

“What’s taking them so long?” Jisung wonders. 

“I’m going to call one of them. This is ridiculous. I’m literally outside my own house waiting to be let in.”

Jisung laughs and kisses Renjun’s hair when the front door finally clicks open. 

“Oh god, my eyes,” Guanheng exclaims dramatically. He eyes how Renjun’s all wrapped up in Jisung’s coat. “Geez, you two are a sore for the eyes. In the best way, of course.”

Renjun fixes him with a look. “You couldn’t have taken longer to open the door.”

Guanheng makes a face at him. Yuqi’s head suddenly pops up behind Guanheng’s shoulder and she smiles sweetly. “Jisung! Come in! Let me introduce you to my girlfriend!” 

Yuqi completely ignores how Renjun is all tangled up with Jisung and reaches out to grab Jisung’s arm, yanking him in. Jisung doesn’t get in a word, simply laughing bafflingly as Yuqi argues with Xuxi somewhere in the house on who’s girlfriend Jisung gets to meet first. Guanheng doesn’t bother welcoming Renjun in, simply instructs Renjun to close the door behind him when he enters. Renjun gets left boyfriend-less and cousin-less to his utter disbelief. 

“Thanks guys!” He says out in a loud grumble. Luckily for him, Jisung’s managed to free himself while Yuqi bickers with Xuxi. He waits for Renjun in the hallway.

Jisung reaches out an arm between them, waits for Renjun to take his hand. Renjun does, his grip tight as they move along the hallway together. 

Christmas in Renjun’s house is never a quiet affair. They can hear the parents talking to each other loudly in the kitchen. Guanheng is on his phone video-calling his boyfriend and Yuqi is trying to persuade her girlfriend to _leave the cookie dough and come meet Jisung before Xuxi’s girlfriend does!_ Xuxi is off somewhere shouting for his girlfriend to beat Yuqi’s to it. Renjun’s younger cousins are screaming and chasing each other, almost bumping into Renjun and Jisung if they hadn’t halted in time. Jisung laughs at the flurry of activities, shaking his head as they walk further into the house, bracing themselves for a chaotic evening. 

“Happy first Christmas to us,” Jisung murmurs, kissing Renjun’s temple softly. 

Renjun hums, leans up and kisses Jisung’s cheek. Their first Christmas is going to be hard to forget. But he thinks so will all the other Christmases and celebrations coming their way. “Merry Christmas to us.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading :) pls give rensung lots and lots of love


End file.
